The Power of Energy Planning: IRPs in the West

In the West, we want a future where we're no longer dependent on coal and methane to meet energy demands. We want to see more clean energy adopted and we want to keep that clean energy affordable. 

Nearly two-thirds of voters in the West want to see a transition to a 100% clean and renewable energy economy.  

So - How do we get there? 

What if I told you there was a lesser known but critical regulatory process that can create real emission reductions on the ground? 

Integrated Resource Plans are one of the most important tools we have to fight climate change - but they aren't talked about much. 

It's a state level process that determines  how much of your power comes from clean sources - like wind and solar.  

And the IRP has a significant impact on the energy bill you pay at the end of the month.  

On today's episode of two Degrees out west learn about one of the most important parts of the transition to clean energy that you may have never heard about - and how WRA uses that process to secure a cleaner future for the West. 

2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West.

On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

It is Hosted by Dave Papineau

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:20 What is an IRP?
• 4:12 How IRPs Help With Clean Energy
• 7:24 The Importance of the IRP Process
• 10:32 What Is In A Good IRP?
• 16:51 State Level Action
• 18:16 The Colorado Process
• 25:05 What We Can Learn From Colorado
• 31:40 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Dave (Host): In the West, we want a future where we're no longer dependent on coal and methane to meet energy demands. We wanna see more clean energy adopted, and we wanna see that clean energy affordable. Nearly two thirds of voters in the West want to see a transition to 100% clean and renewable energy. So how do we get there?

[00:00:24] What if I told you there was a lesser known but critical regulatory process that can create real emission reductions on the ground? Integrated resource plants are one of the most important tools we have to fight climate change, but aren't talked about much. It's a state level process that determines how much of your power comes from clean sources like wind and solar.

[00:00:43] And the RFP has a significant impact on the energy bill that you pay at the end of the month. On today's episode of Two Degrees Out West, learn about one of the most important parts of the transition to clean energy that you may have never heard about, and how WRA uses that process to secure a cleaner future for the West.[00:01:00] 

[00:01:05] Welcome to Two Degrees Out West, a podcast for advocates and decision makers seeking solutions to climate change and its impacts around the West on two degrees out west. We talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you the stories, experiences, and insights from their work and the places we call home.

[00:01:21] On today's episode, Integrated Resource Plans.

[00:01:27] , so welcome to Two Degrees Out West. Can you tell me first who you are and what you do? 

[00:01:32] Clare Valentine: Yeah. Thanks for having me on. My name is Claire Valentine. I'm a senior policy advisor in our clean energy program here at WRA. I'm on our Colorado State team and my role involves, developing advocacy and policy positions related to accelerating decarbonization in the electricity sector.

[00:01:51] So I do a lot of our. Work in Colorado as it relates to, topics spanning freight design to demand side management to integrated resource [00:02:00] planning, and all sorts of other energy related topics. 

[00:02:05] Dave (Host): Claire spends a lot of her time advocating on behalf of WRA in front of people that make decisions about energy.

[00:02:13] Clare Valentine: I'm working on some relatively long testimony on this topic as we speak. 

[00:02:19] Dave (Host): She says much of her work focuses on guiding the IRP process. So to start, I asked her what IRPs are. She gave us some helpful ways to think about them. 

[00:02:30] Clare Valentine: I think the most colloquial way that I could explain integrated resource plans, which is a very complex topic, is that they're generally utilities plans for keeping the lights on as supply demand changes over time.

[00:02:43] And so you can think about the electricity system is a dynamic system, right? For utilities to keep the lights on, they have to respond to changing levels of supply and demand, both in real time and from a planning perspective. Customers are entering and leaving the system. People [00:03:00] are adopting new technologies like electric vehicles and are changing climate patterns are also impacting energy demand from things like air conditioning.

[00:03:08] And simultaneously utilities also have these older generation facilities that are retiring and customers are adopting behind the meter generation. And we also, of course, have policies driving new renewable energy and the retirement of fossil fuel resources. So integrated resource planning is really how utilities plan for the generation resources that are needed to respond to all of these changing factors associated with both that. , supply side, the, whether that's wind, solar, other types of resources and the demand side of the customer consumption. It's the process through which utilities estimate how much power that they're gonna need to deliver to cu to customers, and then figure out which and how many electric generation resources that they need to do that over time.

[00:03:51] Dave (Host): If you've ever wondered how something as complex as an electric grid is kept stable, IRPs are a significant part of that. In [00:04:00] addition to keeping the lights on or keeping the grid stable, Claire says, integrated resource plans are also a tool to accomplish other tasks. 

[00:04:07] Clare Valentine: so I'll emphasize, but it's not just about keeping the lights on. Integrated resource planning is also about optimizing for other objectives, like keeping costs low and decarbonizing our electric system. 

[00:04:19] Dave (Host): The phrase integrated resource plan sounds confusing, but an IRP is just the plan for where your energy is going to come from. As a quick note, we're referring to IRPs as one thing in this podcast, but in Colorado they're called ERPs or Electric Resource Plans.

[00:04:34] As Claire said, IRPs can be complicated, but that's because the energy system can be complicated. 

[00:04:40] Clare Valentine: Part of integrated resource planning is trying to predict the future, and so what a utility is doing is trying to forecast what they're expecting customers to have as far as power demands in the future, and they're also trying to forecast the exact.

[00:04:55] Characteristics, operational parameters of different resource [00:05:00] generation technologies. 

[00:05:02] Dave (Host): Those plans include figuring out how renewable resources like solar or wind can help meet energy demands. So now that we know what an IRP is a plan that explains how utilities will meet energy demands, how do they work and how are they created?

[00:05:16] Clare Valentine: So to zoom way out, integrated resource plans are one of many types of regulatory proceedings, and if folks are generally unfamiliar with that, I would recommend that they listen into our episode on public utilities commissions, which features my. Colleague Deb Koff, and she gives a fabulous description of the process.

[00:05:33] But to be very short about it, the largest utilities in the Interior West are regulated by state public utility commissions. And these commissions are essentially tasked with ensuring that investments made by the utility are in the public interest. That the utility is delivering reliable power at a reasonable cost.

[00:05:51] You know that the utility is complying with applicable state laws. That's the role of a regulatory commission. And the integrated resource [00:06:00] planning process is one of the processes that a regulatory a public Utilities Commission oversees. So generally, these public utilities commission commissions require the utilities to file integrated resource plans at specific cadences, somewhere between two and five years typically.

[00:06:17] And so from a really high level perspective of how IRPs work utilities come up with their integrated resource plans. With all of those pieces informing. That level that they're forecasting of power demand and what they plan to do about it to meet that power demand. And then they file that with their commission.

[00:06:34] And that's the opportunity then for interested stakeholders or the public to engage and provide comment on those plans. And then the commission will ultimately decide whether the plan is adequate or if it should be modified or denied. But the details of that process and what exactly is. Included in these IRPs does vary a lot by state, but that's the high level regulatory process for how an IRP works.

[00:06:59] Dave (Host): We're gonna come [00:07:00] back to the fact that this process varies state by state, but this is really important. Each state's energy planning and regulation process can vary widely. Good processes and rules can help make sure you're getting the best possible deal on energy, but also make sure that energy comes from the cleanest possible sources.

[00:07:17] Clare Valentine: Without question. The IRP process has the greatest influence of any regulatory process on an electric utilities greenhouse gas emissions. This process is where utilities and the commission are making decisions about whether and how long utilities are keeping coal online whether the utilities are investing in new gas fired resources or picking other technologies, whether utilities are trying new things like piloting clean technologies like long duration energy storage.

[00:07:48] Dave (Host): If you only take one thing away from this episode, it should be that IRPs are a critical tool for seeing clean energy on the ground. Claire mentioned more on both the long-term and the [00:08:00] short-term impacts of state level IRPs. 

[00:08:03] Clare Valentine: So these are massive factors in determining the utilities, greenhouse gas emissions, not only in the short or medium term, but also these plans really impact the long term.

[00:08:15] The investments that utilities make today through integrated resource plans are gonna be online for decades to come. In short, WRA engages with IRPs because these plans directly impact greenhouse gas emissions from the electric utility sector in a massive way. And so we really have the opportunity here to advocate for modeling processes, policies, and other types of mechanisms to ensure that.

[00:08:37] The commission and the utility are really appropriately valuing the merits of clean energy and also that they're understanding the cost and drawbacks of new fossil fuel resources at a high level, WRA provides testimony and comments on integrated resource plans, and so we're often seeking certain changes or amendments or consideration of different modeling [00:09:00] parameters.

[00:09:00] And our goal there is really just, furthering our mission of advancing clean energy and reducing climate pollution. And so this can take a lot of different forms in an IRP. So a couple of ways that we advance that advocacy in that forum, for example, are advocating for early coal retirement, often on the basis of the poor economics of coal unit operation.

[00:09:21] Other ways, as I briefly mentioned, ensuring that the modeling assumptions for both clean energy resources and fossil fuel resources are transparent and accurate, making sure we're appropriately valuing clean energy resources for things like production tax credits and also ensuring that the utilities using appropriate forecasts for things like gas fuel costs.

[00:09:42] Another way that we would engage in this process. Things like advocating for modeling of resource portfolios that reach certain greenhouse gas emissions reduction thresholds. Or accounting for the social cost of carbon. And just ensuring that the utility is sufficiently considering opportunities for greater [00:10:00] levels of energy, efficiency and demand response.

[00:10:03] So a lot of our advocacy re revolves around as well, just leveling the playing field to make sure that things like. Clean energy efficiency, that these can compete fairly with more traditional resources. 

[00:10:15] Dave (Host): Like we mentioned before, the IRP process varies by state. Claire mentioned some of her experience working with IRPs in Colorado.

[00:10:24] Clare Valentine: I. And it, it does depend a little bit on the state here in Colorado the procurement of new electric generation resources largely does go through the integrated re resource planning process or here in Colorado, we call it the Electric Resource Planning Process. And the. Process that the utility goes through to acquire those resources.

[00:10:46] They put out this request for proposal, they get bids for those resources. That's all done through a very formalized commission process where the commission then reviews all of those proposed projects and approves a [00:11:00] portfolio. In some other states like Arizona, there's a little bit less oversight of that procurement process.

[00:11:07] And for example, in Arizona, the utilities can move forward with requests for proposals for new resources without as much commission approval. And so there, that kind of points to the need for some of these processes to be robust and transparent. 

[00:11:27] Dave (Host): There's a ton of variables that are considered during the IRP development process.

[00:11:31] Claire highlighted a few of the things that utilities are considering as they work through the IRP process. 

[00:11:37] Clare Valentine: Yeah, so as far as the components of electric resource plans, there's a number of pieces that go into this. As I've mentioned, there's this piece of the load and the sales forecast. So the utility uses a ton of technical assumptions, whether that's things associated with.

[00:11:55] Forecasting ev demand and load growth, whether that's the addition of [00:12:00] data centers and their load and those pieces to really determine their expectations for how demand on the system will grow over time. In addition to that, system modeling and expansion is a key part of integrated resource planning.

[00:12:13] So utilities will typically. Assess their existing system, the resources they have, proposals for coal retirements or other unit retirements, and then conduct a degree of what's called capacity expansion modeling, which is a tool that helps utilities determine the optimal resource additions to meet the electricity needs based on whatever model constraints are entered.

[00:12:35] The next piece that is included in this process are any cost, operational and policy assumptions. So modeling assumptions for new and existing resources, as well as any modeling assumptions for things like greenhouse gas emissions reductions or targets for how much of the resources should be provided by third party resources versus utility owned.

[00:12:57] The next piece is resource portfolios as [00:13:00] well as a utility perfor preferred portfolio. So often utilities will provide multiple examples of new resource portfolios that meet the forecasted energy and demand needs while optimizing for different objectives. Whether that's greenhouse gas emissions reductions whether that's optimizing for low cost or various just transition type parameters.

[00:13:21] We'll often pick a portfolio that they consider their preferred portfolio of how they wanna move forward. And then the last component of the plan is typically. How the utility will implement its plan and how it's gonna acquire those resources. 

[00:13:34] Dave (Host): Claire is one of W's subject matter experts that can provide expert testimony when Colorado's Public Utilities Commission is considering a new resource plan.

[00:13:42] She broke down some of the things that she is looking for in the integrated resource plan. 

[00:13:48] Clare Valentine: Yeah, so there are four pillars that we like to think about as far as effective IRPs at WRA. So to dig into those a little bit, we like to see IRPs that are comprehensive. So an [00:14:00] IRP should accurately model the full suite of costs, system impacts capabilities and value of available energy resources.

[00:14:07] That's what I was mentioning with the modeling of, ensuring that we are properly accounting for all of those pieces. The second pillar that we have is ensuring that an IRP is aligned. So IRP should be meeting planning requirements like affordability, safety, and reliability, as well as state policy directives, like clean energy standards or pollution reduction obligations.

[00:14:29] Dave (Host): One quick note, these pollution reduction obligations are often set by the state legislature when a state decides that they're going to try and reduce their emissions. Often the work to actually meet those benchmarks is done through a public utilities commission and this IRP process. 

[00:14:46] Clare Valentine: The third pillar is that IRP should be trusted.

[00:14:49] The IRP process really works best when it's transparent and when it's well vetted. And when it includes that stakeholder input in a way that's fair, such that, we can provide this type of [00:15:00] feedback on how the inputs and assumptions, as well as the outcome of the IRP might affect different groups and communities.

[00:15:07] And that there should be a competitive process as well. And finally the fourth pillar there is that an IRP should be impactful. It should be subject to commission, review and approval, and a utility. Subsequent resource related decisions should be consistent with prior IRPs, they shouldn't be walking back any sort of emissions reductions, commitments, or otherwise being contradictory to any sort of prior commission decisions.

[00:15:33] Dave (Host): When looking to see these things implemented in an IRP Claire said there's a variety of partners, stakeholders, and collaborators WRA can work with. 

[00:15:41] Clare Valentine: There's often many different stakeholders that are interveners in those types of cases with us. So in addition to WRA, we often engage with our other environmental allies from other organizations.

[00:15:55] Obviously like the utility itself is a key party in those [00:16:00] proceedings commission staff. The consumer advocate is a key party. There's often many trade associations whether that's for renewable development, whether they have a focus on transmission development environmental justice communities and other governmental entities, whether that's.

[00:16:18] Cities. So for example, in Colorado, we often see the city of Boulder and the city and county of Denver. It can be very important and can help facilitate everyone's objectives in these types of proceedings to try to coordinate and align to find recommendations that can help improve IRPs. 

[00:16:36] Dave (Host): One thing you might have noticed, Claire hasn't talked about federal involvement really at all 

[00:16:40] Clare Valentine: state level action, and the regulation of IRPs is more important now than ever.

[00:16:46] With the changes that are occurring at the federal level, we're potentially staring down the barrel of an immense and unprecedented unraveling of decades of environmental protection, law and policy, ranging from the National [00:17:00] Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Inflation Reduction Act. And more.

[00:17:04] And so IRPs are really a powerful and critical tool that state agencies can use to ensure that we're transitioning to energy systems that are clean, affordable, and reliable. 

[00:17:14] Dave (Host): Again, the impact of the IRP process can depend on the state. If a state has a really good IRP process, it means it'll be much easier to get affordable, clean, and sustainable energy sources.

[00:17:27] Clare Valentine: And with that said, some of the states in the Interior West have more robust and more transparent planning processes than others. So there, there's work to be, there's certainly work to be done on the state level to continue to reform that, and it's, yeah, more important now than ever 

[00:17:45] Dave (Host): since Claire works mostly in Colorado.

[00:17:47] She explained how the IRP process works. 

[00:17:50] Clare Valentine: We have a two phase process. So in the first phase of the process, the utility provides, as I mentioned, those load [00:18:00] forecasts, that information about how much electricity sales are going to grow over time and how much demand will grow over time, as well as some preliminary modeling of resource portfolios that they, that the utility believes could meet that demand.

[00:18:14] In addition, the utility. Often provides many other pieces within the IRP. Those pieces can include new proposals for different types of mechanisms. So for example in Excel energies most recent 2024, just transition solicitation filing. They have some new proposals for things like a carbon free future development portfolio that is essentially a new mechanism.

[00:18:40] That could be integrated into the electric resource planning process to help with acquisition of carbon free resources. And in addition to that, phase one is really where we set a lot of the modeling parameters that we want to use in the subsequent phase of the process. [00:19:00] 

[00:19:00] Dave (Host): Transparency was a key element of the Colorado process that stuck out to me.

[00:19:04] Phase one of the electric resource planning process in Colorado is all about setting the rules. Phase one also helps collect information from bidders who want to build infrastructure like electric generation or transmission infrastructure. Required in the utilities proposed resource plan, the who, what, when, and where is all defined in this process.

[00:19:23] Clare Valentine: And it also contains things like information that will be provided to bidders. Excel or any other utility that is going to through this process provides things like the request for proposal that it intends to use to receive bids and other types of. Bitter documents so that there's a lot of, there's a lot of transparency around what the utility is going to provide to the broader industry about the generation resources that it's gonna seek to acquire.

[00:19:54] Dave (Host): And these aren't rules that are just made up behind closed doors. Clear told me there's plenty of opportunity for [00:20:00] input from the public and groups like WRA. 

[00:20:02] Clare Valentine: So there's a lot that happens in phase one, and that's a process that is. Fully litigated by the parties that are in that. So we have, yeah, testimony and hearings and go through a full legal process.

[00:20:15] Dave (Host): When Claire says this process is fully litigated, it means the pros and cons of these decisions are argued in public settings. The commission functions like a courtroom and follows a formal procedure with filings testimony by sworn witnesses in cross-examination. This allows for transparency into the modeling for the Public Utilities Commission and interveners like WRA.

[00:20:34] It also promotes public accessibility and ultimately yields better planning. 

[00:20:39] Clare Valentine: And once the dust has settled on that, the utility then proceeds into phase two. 

[00:20:45] Dave (Host): Phase two is where those rules and parameters set up in phase one are put to work and the utilities collect real world bids on energy projects.

[00:20:54] Clare Valentine: Where it puts out that request for proposal for a, for the industry to [00:21:00] submit electric generation project bids. And so that's when the different vendors of the world come forward and they bring forward their proposals for whether that is utility scale, solar, whether that's wind, whether that's maybe a gas combustion turbine.

[00:21:14] And the utility collects all of the, that bid information. 

[00:21:18] Dave (Host): After that, the utility can see how the bids they got fit into the rules and plans created in phase one. 

[00:21:24] Clare Valentine: Then they proceed with modeling all of those bids through this this modeling process that will essentially take all the inputs of the bids, take all of the modeling assumptions that we determined in that phase one process and optimize everything together to try to solve for different objectives.

[00:21:42] And put together these different resource proposals for the commission to review in phase two. 

[00:21:47] Dave (Host): Once those plans are modeled based off real bids, the utility can present those to the utility commission. Claire explained how that works. 

[00:21:56] Clare Valentine: So what that all then culminates in is the utility [00:22:00] providing this phase two filing to the commission, and the commission gets to review.

[00:22:05] A number of different types of portfolios that might have different objectives. So you could have one portfolio that is, say the least cost portfolio, which is perhaps a portfolio that does. Meets some sort of specified policy objectives but comes in at the very least cost. But maybe there's other portfolios such as ones that focus on objectives related to just transition or objectives related to whether there's more third party ownership of projects versus ex versus a utility owning more of the projects.

[00:22:36] And so all of these different resource portfolios are filed with the commission. And there's another opportunity for groups like WRA to weigh in on those different portfolios and to provide commentary on which portfolio the commission should move forward with. And so then moving along in the process, the commission ultimately approves a portfolio for the utility.

[00:22:59] Dave (Host): [00:23:00] So what basically this part one is like we're making the rules for how we're gonna define our energy plan. And then the part two is developing the plan based on those rules, and the commission gets to say, what does or doesn't follow the rules we created in part one. 

[00:23:15] Clare Valentine: I think that's a good way to set it up of the phase one is determining the rules of the road for phase two.

[00:23:22] And part of phase one is also setting up how we might think about different portfolios because ultimately we don't know what projects, what real projects are gonna come through once the utility goes out and solicits for those projects. And so in phase one, we really set up a framework to. Establish different lenses through which we might view different combinations of bids.

[00:23:47] And so then when we move forward to phase two, there's that framework that we're looking through to evaluate the real bids. And so it is a little unique in Colorado. In some other [00:24:00] jurisdictions, there's just. A single phase process that's a little more about like generic resources and not using the information from real bids.

[00:24:10] But in Colorado we have this interesting two phase process, which really allows, again, a lot of transparency in really seeing what bids are available and what is actually going to be coming online. 

[00:24:26] Dave (Host): What I learned here is phase one of Colorado's energy planning process creates space to help make sure that the process is thorough and rate payers are getting the best deal while clean energy technology is taken seriously and prioritized.

[00:24:41] Unfortunately, not every state in our region has an IRP process that's run so smoothly. In Nevada, the utility doesn't follow an orderly two step process, but instead, pre-select energy bids behind closed doors, they file their IRP and their preferred energy bids all at the same time, which makes the process [00:25:00] messy and opaque.

[00:25:01] Transparency in these processes is key as it makes sure the resources that are being selected are the most affordable, reliable, and clean before developers begin building. Luckily in Colorado, there are many points during that process where the public can comment and influence where their energy is coming from and what type of resources are used.

[00:25:20] Another key aspect of Colorado's energy planning process is the commissioners who evaluate these plans. 

[00:25:27] Clare Valentine: I think what is pretty valuable here in Colorado is that we do have commissioners who have, decades of experience. In the energy industry and they are appointed as opposed to elected.

[00:25:39] And so that is something that's very valuable here in Colorado, that we really have people in those positions that are very experienced in the industry. Though I think that there's lots of opportunity in terms of what the exact background looks like. 

[00:25:54] Dave (Host): Claire said the process ends up having positive results for Colorado.

[00:25:58] Clare Valentine: What I do think [00:26:00] is very valuable is that because we have such a robust and transparent process, it really feels like when a resource portfolio is approved by the commission, that a lot of thought has gone into that, and a lot of thought has gone into the the cost of the resource portfolio, the reliability.

[00:26:24] As well as the extent to which the portfolio advances our stake goals related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And so I think the way that our process impacts Coloradans is really that it feels that this process provides a lot of security that we're moving forward with the right approach.

[00:26:45] And I think that is just generally reflected in a lot of the. Decisions that the commission puts forward. 

[00:26:54] Dave (Host): She also said that it provides an opportunity for organizations like WRA to advocate on behalf of communities and the [00:27:00] environment. 

[00:27:00] Clare Valentine: The two phase process allows us to better engage than in states where there is not a two phase process and.

[00:27:12] That's because the phase two really offers just a second intervention point to evaluate the real world of projects that might come online. So for example, in Excel Energy's 2021 Electric Resource Plan, there. Were some things that came to light in phase two regarding some transmission constraints in the Denver metro area and that related to project selection and whether additional transmission costs would be incurred through selecting certain projects versus others.

[00:27:49] And so that was not an issue that was, that really came to light in, in phase one. And so I think that was an example of a value that was provided through that phase two process to be able [00:28:00] to. See how some of that additional modeling played out. And I do think that the other real value of this phase, phase two process is getting to see the real portfolios that optimize for different objectives.

[00:28:16] And so being able to, see a group of resources that maybe reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain amount. And seeing another portfolio that perhaps is lower cost but does not reduce emissions as much, and being able to, weigh some of that and to be able to offer additional commentary on, why there's value in pursuing a portfolio that offers deeper decarbonization.

[00:28:39] It's something that's very valuable and I do think in, in states that have a more limited one phase process, that there is perhaps less of an opportunity to get some of the modeling scenarios that you can get by, as we discussed in how phase one establishes the rules of the road, we really get to see that play out in phase two and be able to use that [00:29:00] information to make informed decisions about which portfolio to move forward with.

[00:29:05] Dave (Host): What can we learn from Colorado and Colorado's energy planning process? 

[00:29:09] Clare Valentine: I think that one of the valuable things that we have in Colorado are some pretty fundamental statutory goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and that is very valuable to us in our resource planning processes. 

[00:29:29] Dave (Host): A really important thing that we touched on earlier is how much this is a state level process.

[00:29:33] When a state legislature sets a decarbonization goal saying that they want to reduce emissions by a certain amount, it's the public utility commission who's going to help make sure that happens on behalf of voters. 

[00:29:44] Clare Valentine: The resource planning processes are generally designed around meeting the objectives that the General Assembly has set.

[00:29:51] And so that's something that is. A pretty valuable piece in Colorado that assists with those objectives that. Some of Wwas [00:30:00] other states do not have as aggressive or, set greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals. And so certainly there's opportunities within integrated resource planning processes for the commissions to prioritize greenhouse gas emissions reductions and to direct modeling to.

[00:30:19] Direct greater information regarding resource portfolios that could provide those deeper greenhouse gas emissions reductions. And so that's absolutely a role that state commissions can play in prioritizing that as an objective and ensuring that they have the information through integrated resource plans to.

[00:30:40] Move forward with those objectives. 

[00:30:42] Dave (Host): Electricity powers our day-to-day lives, and we're dependent on utilities to provide affordable, reliable, clean energy. Across the west, a rapidly changing energy environment with significant increases in future demand and more frequent, extreme weather is driving a need for cleaner energy and the work happening in public utility [00:31:00] commissions through integrated resource planning is critical to effectively decarbonizing the west.

[00:31:06] It's through transparent and well thought out processes like the two phased approach in Colorado, that we get the best possible results for our communities. In Nevada, we filed comments urging the Public Utilities Commission to enact a two phased IRP process to ensure it can effectively help the state plan for its clean energy future.

[00:31:28] If you want to track our progress on Decarbonizing the West and want updates on what is happening in your state, especially in a time when state level action is a very important method of action, you can join our email list. We'll be sending you news and updates as well as opportunities for you to support key initiative.

[00:31:46] Did you like what you've heard? Bring others into the conversation. Share our show with friends, family and group chats alike. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads to get the latest climate news from the West and hear about upcoming episodes. [00:32:00] You can find all of our show notes, a full transcription of this episode and further resources about integrated resource plans@westernresourceadvocates.org.

[00:32:08] Lastly, WRA would like to thank our sponsors who make this work possible. Our impact sponsor is First Bank. Our premier sponsor is Vision Ridge Partners, our supporting partner. Our supporting sponsors are BSW Wealth Partners, GOCO Group 14, engineering Jones and Co. Meridian Public Affairs, and Sola. Thank you for listening.