A coalition of fifteen environmental organizations including the Washington Clean Energy Coalition, Sierra Club, and several 350.org chapters asked the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to reject Puget Sound Energy’s Clean Energy Implementation Plan and All-Source RFP. The letter argues PSE’s resource planning relies on temperature data from a colder climate era, dismisses the possibility of becoming a summer-peaking utility, and over-invests in wind while shorting solar and storage.
- PSE acknowledged it cannot produce climate-aware load forecasts until mid-2022 — after the CEIP is finalized — a position Commissioner Rendahl called “basically untenable.”
- 94% of “Loss of Load” scenarios in PSE’s modeling come from pre-1972 weather data, when winters were significantly colder than recent decades.
- Coalition analysis of UW/SEATAC data shows the coldest of the cold rising 0.7°F per decade and the hottest of the hot at 0.5°F per decade — faster than the average trend.
- PSE plans 50% of 2025 resource acquisitions in wind vs. 20–35% for PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric, with only 3% in storage vs. 13–16% for those peer utilities.
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory research cited in the letter shows climate change nearly eliminates winter shortfalls but greatly increases summer shortfalls due to reduced hydropower combined with higher cooling demand.