Amy Dominguez, amy.dominguez@sierraclub.org
Yesterday, PacifiCorp, the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power which serves Wyoming, released its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), significantly scaling back and slow-walking investments in renewable energy, instead prioritizing expensive and volatile fossil fuels. The IRP, meant to guide the utility’s energy procurement strategy for the coming decades, represents a stark step backwards from cost-effective clean energy solutions that could lower customer bills and boost local economies.
In the 2025 IRP, the utility has opted to ignore proven, affordable renewable energy sources by:
- Continuing operation of Wyoming coal plants like Jim Bridger, Wyodak and Dave Johnston online through the 2040s and beyond
- Continuing to pursue risky and unproven technologies like carbon capture and nuclear
- Severely limiting clean energy acquisitions for Wyoming, even though these resources will boost state economies and lower power bills for customers
The plan’s release follows an April 2024 update to the Company’s 2023 IRP, which forecasted its future commitment to fossil fuels by further delaying coal plant retirements – despite the clear economic and environmental benefits of transitioning to clean energy.
PacifiCorp’s decision to backtrack on renewables comes in sharp contrast to the findings of a newly released report Utah and Wyoming: Economic Opportunities in PacifiCorp’s Renewable Energy Transition. The report highlights how increased investment in renewables could generate thousands of long-term, high-paying jobs, strengthen local economies, and provide critical tax revenue for public services like schools and hospitals across Wyoming.
PacifiCorp’s IRP will now be reviewed by its regulators in Wyoming. The timeline will vary, but it is expected that regulatory review will occur through the remainder of 2025. The public can participate by submitting comments directly to the public service commission.
“PacifiCorp’s latest IRP means higher costs and risky bets for our communities,” said Emma Jones, Energy Organizer for the Sierra Club in Wyoming. “Instead of investing in proven, affordable, job-creating clean energy that could lower customer bills and boost Wyoming’s economy, the utility is doubling down on expensive, speculative technologies like carbon capture and nuclear power. Wyoming needs a real energy plan that puts ratepayers and communities first, not corporate billionaires.”
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