Bill proposed by Kennewick senator encourages local energy resilience investments | News
OLYMPIA, Wash. – A new bill proposed by Kennewick Senator Matt Boenke strives to bolster local energy resilience by offering an alternative compliance pathway for utilities.
Senate Bill 5445 addresses the anticipated 30% increase in electricity demand over the next decade, as estimated by the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, said language in the bill.
The bill encourages utilities to invest in local energy resilience projects, which can help meet rising demand and improve grid reliability.
These projects include community solar generation, demand response, battery storage, and grid hardening to protect infrastructure from natural disasters.
“And this is what this bill will do. It’s really trying to incentivize in some of those areas, especially in my district and a lot of the areas around the Tri-City area, Central Valley, Yakima and into Grant County that a lot of these projects are going into.” Senator Boenke told the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology during a public hearing Tuesday.
Charlie Thompson, Policy Associate with the Northwest Energy Coalition, spoke in opposition of the bill.
“As drafted, this bill would allow utilities to forego purchasing non-hydro renewables if they spend money instead on resilience projects. Many of the projects listed in the bill are investments the utilities must pursue anyway,” Thompson testified. “We believe that there is nothing currently stopping the utilities from investing in resilience projects and we urge them to do so, but not at the expense of shifting their investment away from renewables at this critical stage.”
The bill now awaits further consideration from the committee.
