Portland, OR — Portland General Electric (PGE) is pushing for a change in Oregon's state rules on power plants so that it can either shut down its coal-fired Boardman Power Plant in 2020 or transition it to alternative power sources.
Current state rules would not let the power plant run until 2020 without installing emissions controls. In a plan submitted to the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC), the utility lists out the emissions control retrofits that it would need to install, which would cost from $520 million upwards to $560 million.
Due to state rules, the utility could not include a plan to operate without the emissions control until 2020, but it informed the OPUC that it hopes to develop a plan that allows it to either run as-is until 2020 and then shut down, or start transitioning away from coal as a power source, which would require far fewer emissions controls.
“Right now state regulations give us very few options - either shut the plant prematurely at a tremendous cost to customers or install very expensive new controls despite uncertainty about future carbon regulation and technological developments,” Jim Piro, president and CEO or PGE, said in a statement. “We think an alternative plan could reduce cost and risk for our customers while giving us time to develop replacement resources or convert to a different fuel, but we'll need changes in state rules and help from our stakeholders to accomplish that.”
If the utility cannot get an alternative plan into place, it will seek to install all required emissions controls and continue to run the plant.
Last month, Progress Energy Carolinas announced plans to close four coal-fired power plants that do not have emissions controls, due to cost and increasing regulations, in favor of natural gas and renewable energy generation.
Boardman Power Plant - Courtesy PGE