Oregon’s renewable portfolio standard doesn’t account for energy-intensive data centers
The Oregon Legislature meets this month, and while the session is a mere 29 days—a virtual sprint compared with the marathon-like six-months of legislative activity we will see in 2013— it is important nonetheless.
One issue electric cooperative leaders will discuss with legislators is an unintended consequence of the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) law passed in 2007. The RPS requires utilities to supply a portion of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind or solar.
Curiously, generation from the hydroelectric dams marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration does not count.
Depending on their size, electric cooperatives have to comply with the law by having 5 percent or 10 percent of their electricity generated from renewable resources by 2025. Because electric cooperatives have a much smaller percentage of the state’s energy load, legislators decided they did not have to meet the 25 percent renewable threshold for the state’s largest utilities, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric.
That might be changing.
Large data centers—think Facebook and Google—are locating in Oregon, and some are choosing areas where an electric cooperative will be their power supplier. As large users of electricity, these data centers could have the unintended consequence of pushing small electric co-ops into the same category of the RPS as PacifiCorp and PGE.
That is not fair. These large utilities have a much larger base of consumers to spread the additional costs of renewable energy. The Legislature did not envision the impact of giant data centers on the RPS. Oregon’s electric cooperatives now are asking the Legislature to explore ways to protect our consumers.
We are proud of our record on renewable energy and for offering reliable, affordable power. We also know laws are not perfect. Just like someone’s profile on Facebook, they occasionally need a little updating.
Jeff Davis, General Manager
