NPR is reporting that
"Idaho Power plans to stop using coal energy and rely instead on hydroelectric, solar and wind resources, the utility says. The public utility vows that 100 percent of energy will come from "clean" sources by 2045. Public utilities have made similar pledges in only a handful of states.
Idaho Power customers increasingly see clean energy that doesn't rely on carbon dioxide-producing fossil fuels as a priority, the company says.
"We believe this goal is attainable," Idaho Power President and CEO Darrel Anderson said in announcing the plan.
Idaho Power says it has already agreed to stop using two coal power plants by 2025 and that it's considering how to shut down its third and final coal plant."The preceding are excerpts from
the NPR article.
Comments
In contrast, I'm in a neighboring state, with equal if not better renewable potential, where the largest utility convinced the wacky legislature to let it out from under those pesky "regulated monopoly" rules to buy a slug more of local coal-produced power with none of the usual utility commission oversight. Which of course means that whatever they pay for it, the ratepayer is stuck with the bill. This, despite the fact that the plants in question are among the dirtiest, most obsolete coal plants in the country, and the utility's small renewables portfolio costs about half as much as the dirty coal electricity.
That'll show those hippy coastal state utilities that won't buy our coal power anymore!
Guess I'm just dumb but we are so past break point.
Best, hawk