Avista Utilities, an operating division of Avista Corp., filed its 2023 Electric Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and the Idaho Public Utility Commission. Avista produces an electric IRP every two years detailing projected growth in demand for energy and the new resources needed to serve customers over the next 20 years.
Since filing the 2021 IRP, Avista has secured several new energy supply contracts. Those combined with planned upgrades to several existing hydropower and biomass plants over the next decade mean Avista can meet customer energy needs through the middle of the 2030s.
“We evaluate many options to find the ideal strategy to serve our customers that balances cost, reliability, the community and the environment,” said Scott Kinney, Avista’s vice president of energy resources. “Thanks to resource selections from our recent All-Source RFP, we are in a good position to meet our customers’ needs now and into the future. We are pleased to have a plan that builds on our already strong commitment to the environment.”
Some highlights of the 2023 IRP include:
Avista has announced several resource acquisitions and a divestiture (Colstrip at the end of 2025) since its 2021 IRP. These changes reflect one of Avista’s biggest portfolio transformations since the early 2000s.
The resource strategy selected in the IRP shows an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
Avista needs long-duration storage to serve customers in peak hours after 2035 to achieve 100% clean energy targets in Washington.
Avista created a Named Community Investment Fund (NCIF) to increase energy related investments in disadvantaged communities. The fund will increase distributed energy resources such as energy efficiency, small-scale renewables, and energy storage.
The energy forecast grows 0.85% per year, higher than the 0.24% annual growth rate in the 2021 IRP. Higher growth largely reflects higher residential and commercial electric vehicles (EV) forecasts and new building electrification.
IRP Process
Each IRP is a thoroughly researched and data-driven document identifying a resource strategy to meet customer needs while balancing costs and risk measures with environmental goals and mandates. Avista’s professional energy analysts use sophisticated modeling tools and input from over 75 participants to develop each plan. The participants in the public process include customers, environmental organizations and business groups, elected officials and utility commission staff. Avista also hosted two public participation meetings open to all customers in March.
