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Electricity in the Northwest By Meredith Angwin September 10, 2014 With a grid dominated by hydropower and nuclear power, the Northwest is blessed with electricity that is
abundant affordable safe emits very little greenhouse gas non-polluting.
For example, Washington state is the largest producer of hydropower in the United States, and has the lowest electricity prices of any state (combined prices from all sectors). (See here). The Northwest is also blessed with civic-minded, publicly owned utilities. Energy Northwest is a not-for-profit public power agency: it owns Columbia Generating Station (nuclear), wind turbines, a solar installation, and a hydro facility. The electricity from these projects is sold, at-cost, to the project participants. The future of electricity in the Northwest Unfortunately, it is easy to take blessings for granted. In the future, people who live in the Northwest will continue to need abundant, clean, affordable energy. However, the energy landscape is always changing. The choices we make now will ensure that future, and this blog is about those choices. Some recent developments affect the energy picture in the Northwest. These include:
rapid growth of wind power in Washington State, new and proposed rules for hydro. These rules will safeguard salmon runs but may affect the amount and timing of hydro power availability dedicated anti-nuclear groups sponsoring “studies” aimed at the only nuclear plant in Washington State shale gas from Canada which is abundant and low-cost now, but is expected to be increasingly higher cost in the future Energy Northwest becoming a leader in the deployment of small modular reactors, through a federally-funded project 1