Work is underway to create an updated plan to detail Grant PUD’s continuing efforts to meet Washington State’s clean energy mandate, which includes special provisions for underrepresented and vulnerable customer groups, the Washington State PUD said on July 10.
The 2026-2029 Clean Energy Implementation Plan is required of all electric utilities in the state.
It picks up where Grant PUD’s “first interim-period plan,” from 2022 to 2025 leaves off and must show that Grant PUD is still on track to comply with the following targets set by the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA):
• Eliminate coal as a source of electricity from its power supply by year’s end. A diminishing amount of coal generation is included in the mix of the electricity Grant PUD purchases from the regional energy wholesale market in exchange for its hydropower to cover the county’s demand.
• Eliminate at least 80% of greenhouse-gas-emitting energy from its mix by 2030. Utilities may purchase up to 20% of carbon-emitting energy, such as natural gas, by acquiring and retiring Renewable Energy Credits or other approved “offsets.”
• Meet the state target of eliminating all carbon emissions from its energy supply by 2045.
• Show it is developing energy-efficiency and demand-response targets. “Demand-response” is an agreement with certain customer groups to reduce their energy consumption during times of peak demand to free-up electricity for general use, county wide, to prevent outages and/or Grant PUD having to purchase costly energy from the regional wholesale market.
• Show that it has or is creating programs, like income-qualified bill-pay assistance, to ensure underrepresented or vulnerable customer groups have access to Grant PUD electricity.
The completed plan must be submitted to the state Department of Commerce by year’s end.
Grant PUD has developed a survey as part of the public participation process for the plan to gauge customers’ priorities in a range of energy-related areas, from low rates and reliable service to clean energy and ways to save.
