Wednesday November 2, 2022
KPVI —
Washington residents’ electrical cost could increase $330 per year, on average, through 2050 according to a recent report co-published by the Washington Policy Center and the American Experiment think tanks.
The report addresses the proposed removal of the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Lower Granite, and Lower Monumental dams on the lower Snake River to aid in salmon recovery efforts.
The problem addressed is not the removal of the dams, it’s the question of how to replace the 3,033 megawatts capacity for power generation that the dams provide. This accounts for roughly 10 percent of the Evergreen State’s total generation capacity.
According to the report, replacing that capacity could cost up to $34.3 billion, a figure that is on the high end of dam power generation replacement estimates. The additional costs account for the needed upgrades to electrical transmission and storage capacity inherent with the intermittent nature of replacing hydroelectric generation with renewables such as wind and solar.