The board of directors for California public power utility Truckee Donner PUD recently adopted the utility’s first-ever integrated resource plan.
The IRP factors in regulatory mandates, market trends, reliability, affordability and more, the utility said.
“The IRP is a living document that TDPUD’s electric team will continue to update as it tracks and analyzes our community’s growth,” Truckee Donner PUD said.
“The district’s resources are adequate in the short term, but we have to plan for the future,” said Jared Carpenter, TDPUD electric utility director. “We have to keep looking for new resources and developing new projects. We’re not the only ones looking for these resources, even beyond other utilities; there are big companies who are permitted to buy power from the wholesale markets that we’re up against. There is competition today that 10 years ago I couldn’t have envisioned.”
In 2023, Truckee Donner PUD’s board awarded a contract to Aspen Environmental to create TDPUD's first IRP.
The project reviewed TDPUD’s current customer demand profiles, electric resource portfolio, opportunities to work with customers to reduce and/or shift demand during a given day, 100% clean energy requirements by 2045, and opportunities to procure electric resources such a wind, solar, geothermal, and energy storage.
Separately, the board also received the annual purchase power review for 2023. Staff reports out to the board on the type of power TDPUD purchased in the previous year, as well as the costs, and how they lined up to budget.
In 2023, Red Mesa Tapaha Solar Farm came online, which drove up solar power’s percentage in TDPUD’s overall portfolio.
While the final portfolio stats for 2023 won’t be finalized until the fall, TDPUD is projected to have increased its percentage of renewable/clean energy to 64 percent, over 60 percent in 2022.
Carpenter explained to the board that this is a very positive result, especially given the volatility in the energy market.
