I agree with the many who are troubled by the recent editorial “In Our View: Power plant upgrades serve people, planet” (The Columbian, Nov. 13). Clark Public Utilities should contract with clean-energy sources now to displace the need for methane in a realistic time frame, but well before 2045.
River Road Generating Plant is one of the 10 largest emitters of greenhouse gas in Washington. The Clean Energy Transformation Act requires electric generation to be carbon neutral by 2030. We need to contract now to prepare for 2030. A delay in closure delays the transition to clean energy and worsens worldwide climate disasters.
Cost of renewable energy is no longer the issue. Maintaining the River Road facility will become more expensive as the facility ages. We know from recent heating gas increases that the cost of methane is increasing. Renewables are becoming cheaper and more available. According to an analysis by Lazard, “since 2009, the levelized cost of energy for wind generation has fallen 72 percent, while the levelized cost of energy for solar is down 90 percent. The result is that on a per kilowatt-hour level, renewables are now cheaper than both coal and gas across a wide variety of uses.”
Clark Public Utilities should plan better.
