Operating Rocky Mountain Power's electricity generation system more efficiently is providing cleaner energy and reducing costs for more than 1 million customers. Through more innovative integration of its existing power plants with the growing amount of renewable generation on the grid, Rocky Mountain Power's smarter grid' reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent for 2016 versus the previous 5-year average.
This reduction amounts to 6 million tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking more than 1.1 million passenger cars off the road for a year. Making the grid more flexible in using available renewable generation also reduced energy costs for customers by nearly $50 million for the year.
"Our efforts to make our power system smarter' means making it cleaner, more efficient and more reliable," said Cindy A. Crane, President and CEO of Rocky Mountain Power. "Taking advantage of traditional and renewable energy resources has also helped us keep electricity prices steady."
The amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the PacifiCorp grid increased 41 percent last year (Rocky Mountain Power is a division of PacifiCorp). The 2,960 megawatts of solar and wind energy generation capacity now serving customers constitutes 29 percent of customers' peak energy demand and represents an important milestone towards more zero-emission generation. In 2016, nearly one-third of all PacifiCorp's electric generation capacity was from zero-emitting plants.
"More customers want cleaner energy but they still want us to keep rates low," added Crane. "We will continue to build on this success by looking for more innovative ways to achieve both objectives."
