Proposed Resource Development over the next Decade
The Council tracks proposed resources in its generating resource project database. This includes projects that are in some stage of the development pipeline, from initiation to construction. Not all of these proposed projects make it to construction and operation – in fact a large portion do not – but it is a useful reference to see what project developers are working on in terms of resource technology, geographic location, and resource size. It is difficult to capture all proposed projects so in reality this number may vary, but the following figure shows a snapshot of the projects included in the database as of July 2021.
There are significant amounts of onshore wind, solar PV, renewables + storage, and several large pumped storage and small modular reactor nuclear projects in the development pipeline. In total, the Council’s project database is reflecting over 21,000 megawatts of proposed projects in the region.
PNW Proposed Resource Development
Another useful reference check when analyzing the future power system is a review of utility integrated resource plans (IRPs). In June 2021, staff aggregated several of the major utilities in the region and the WECC to understand what magnitude and types of new resource acquisitions they were projecting in the near-term and long-term. While this is certainly not meant to be an apples-to-apples comparison with the 2021 Power Plan analysis, it can provide useful information as to what conditions individual utilities are facing and their strategies for the future. See the June 2021 presentation on this IRP analysis for more information.