IRP from PacifiCorp picks battery storage as part of a “least-cost portfolio” for the first time

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PacifiCorp coal-fired generation facility in Utah. Image: Wikimedia / Tricia Simpson.

PacifiCorp has formalised a long-anticipated shift from coal to solar, wind and battery storage, setting ambitious targets underpinned by a belief in clean energy’s sound economics.

The utility, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, recently unveiled a roadmap that would see it add nearly 3GW of new solar by 2025 and 6.3GW by 2038.

The firm’s “preferred portfolio” would also feature a major wind roll-out – with 4.6GW in new capacity installed by 2038 – and, in a first for the utility, energy storage.

As PacifiCorp noted, its 2019 integrated resource plan (IRP) – still a draft at this stage – singles out battery storage as part of a “least-cost portfolio” for the first time.

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Consequently, the utility now wants to deploy 600MW of battery systems by 2025 and over 2.8GW by 2038, much of it slated for installation alongside solar plants.

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