- The West plans to retire nearly 26 GW of coal and natural gas-fired resources.
- Most western states have committed to aggressive clean energy targets.
An association responsible for power market reliability in Western North America said the growing use of renewable generation would require the region to boost planning reserves in coming years to help maintain grid reliability.
The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) said in a recent reliability assessment that planning reserve margins for 2023 rose from 16.9% in 2021 to 18.3% in 2022 due in part to the increase in variable resources, like wind and solar, that only produce power when the wind blows, or the sun shines. That means electric companies will have to hold more resources to account for that increased variability to maintain system reliability.
The problem will worsen over time since most western states have committed to aggressive clean energy targets, and the federal government plans to spend billions on clean energy development under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Over the next decade, WECC said entities in the West plan to retire nearly 26 gigawatts (GW) of mostly coal and natural gas-fired resources and build close to 80 GW of primarily solar, wind, and battery storage.
WECC noted that reliability through 2025 increased in the latest assessment compared with last year.