Addressing the Lower Snake River Dams’ Peaking Capacity

The Coalition released a short paper addressing the lower Snake River dams’ sustained peaking capacity. The paper analyzes operational data of the four federally-owned lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington to determine how much the dams contribute to sustained peaking capacity for Bonneville Power Administration customers. The paper’s high-level look at the operational data shows…

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Smart Planning Will Drive Replacing the Power from Lower Snake River Dams

The Coalition released a white paper addressing the replacement of energy services from the lower Snake River dams. The paper examines the power system planning that utilities do regularly in the context of the lower Snake River dams power replacement discussion. The power system plans for retirement of generating resources all the time and regularly issues…

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How solar installers can diversify their workforces

The NW Energy Coalition has published a fact sheet summarizing tactics that solar installers can use to attract more people of color to the industry and to their companies.  The fact sheet is derived from a study published in June by the Solar Foundation, which found that only about 10% of 7,300 solar industry jobs…

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Low costs and lots of jobs: The economic impact of I-937

FACT VS. INFERENCE: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF WASHINGTON’S CLEAN ELECTRICITY STANDARD An analysis released in 2013 by the Washington Policy Center (WPC) and the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI), claimed that by the year 2020, Initiative 937, the Energy Independence Act, passed by voters in 2006, would cost Washington electricity customers more than…

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The Lower Snake River Dams Power Replacement Study

Reliable and affordable clean energy options that help restore salmon and protect the environment. The study was undertaken to investigate the technical feasibility and cost of replacing the four Lower Snake River Dams with a portfolio of clean and renewable resources that support a reliable and adequate regional power system while minimizing increases to greenhouse gas emissions.

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Updated “50 States of Grid Modernization” report available

New report summarizes grid modernizations actions and proposals in all 50 states. The Department of Energy recently concluded that electric system reliability and resiliency are at risk due to the loss of what it calls “baseload” power resources — primarily coal-fired and nuclear.  That claim has been largely debunked, but it raises the question of…

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NWEC releases new Lower Snake River Dam fact sheet

As the Bonneville Power Administration and other federal agencies convene a hearing process concerning the fate of the lower Snake River dams and ongoing efforts to save threatened wild salmon populations, the NW Energy Coalition has released a new fact sheet that describes an affordable clean energy alternative to the dams. The fact sheet also outlines the steps that BPA and the federal agencies should take to assure that the process of creating a new environmental impact statement is thorough, fair and transparent.

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NWEC Executive Director to speak at Save the Salmon Rally.

NWEC Executive Director Nancy Hirsh will speak this afternoon at 4PM at a rally to call on the Bonneville Power Administration and other federal agencies to conduct a thorough and fair investigation to determine whether the electricity generated by the lower Snake River dams that inhibit salmon migration can be replaced by other clean, renewable power options.

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Clean up the grid and electrify everything

Amid uncertainty about what recent election results will mean for environmental policy and the fate of the planet, a remarkable clarity pervaded the NW Energy Coalition Clean & Affordable Energy conference this past Thursday in Portland. David Roberts, Vox energy and climate columnist and the conference’s keynote speaker, opened the day by reminding an audience of more than two-hundred that, regardless of coming battles and possible changes in energy and environmental policy both in Washington DC and in the Northwest, there remains a simple imperative. If we are to avoid doing catastrophic damage to the planet and to ourselves, “we must clean up the grid and electrify everything.”

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