The future of power

In Sweetwater County and throughout Wyoming, Rocky Mountain Power is addressing upcoming rate increases, continuing work on ongoing projects, and planning for power needs in the future. 

Representatives from Rocky Mountain Power discussed these topics when they gave an update to the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners during the May 20 commission meeting. 

A rate increase that will impact Rocky Mountain Power customers starting in June was recently approved by the Wyoming Public Service Commission. Ron Wild explained to the commissioners that the overall general rate increase will be 10.2%, but added that there will be a decrease of 5.8% in July. This decrease will come from the Energy Cost Adjustment Mechanism that Rocky Mountain Power is required to file every year. It can go up or down each year, and this year it's going down, "which will then bring the overall rate increase down to about five percent," Wild said. 

"I don't like it," Commissioner Mary Thoman said of the rate increase. 

"I don't either," Wild agreed. 

The commissioners also heard an update on some of Rocky Mountain Power's ongoing projects from Brian Taylor and Aleta Brown. Taylor explained that some large projects have been completed and are in service, like the Gateway South project, which included 420 miles of transmission lines through Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Other projects are still ongoing, however. These include renewable energy sources like wind power projects across Wyoming and ongoing efforts to convert gas plants from coal to natural gas, with several of these projects scheduled for 2030, according to Taylor. 

One of Rocky Mountain Power's continuing projects that is fully in Wyoming is the Anticline to Shirley Basin project. Taylor explained that this project involves 152 miles of transmission line, 61 miles of which are in Sweetwater County, with the rest in Carbon County. Commissioner Thoman clarified that these are "green energy" lines. Taylor confirmed this, and said that they won't be called that specifically, but they are currently scheduled for moving wind-generated energy. 

Aleta Brown gave more details on the Gateway West D.3 Project, which is a segment of the larger Gateway West project that was approved over a decade ago. She explained that this segment goes from Anticline near Rock Springs into Idaho, covering 130 miles just in Wyoming. The project's timeline has been pushed back a few years, Brown said, and is now planning to begin construction around 2032 and be in service in 2034. 

When it comes to both current and future projects, as well as increasing demand for power, Commission Chairman Keaton West explained that he has been hearing concerns from local industry partners and those paying attention to economic development plans. 

"A lot of what we're getting some pushback on is the grid," West explained, "and the grid's capacity." 

West noted that some of the solution trona mines coming to the area have expressed concerns about not having enough power. He also said "there is a big push for data centers," which is largely in the eastern side of the state, but could still have an effect in the southwest. 

"We're told that our region, not necessarily Sweetwater, but our region doesn't have the grid capacity to support this expansion or this development," West said. 

Wild addressed this concern by explaining that Rocky Mountain Power is working on plans for future solutions. 

"We have enough capacity generation transmission to meet organic growth, which is two, three, four percent on an annual basis. And we are coming up with a plan to be able to address spikes," Wild said. 

Data centers are in decreasing demand across the country, largely in order to run and support Artificial Intelligence technology. Wild pointed out that data centers require "significant amounts of power," and said that they can use more power than Rock Springs and Green River combined.

"So we are putting together a plan to be able to meet their energy needs as we go forward," Wild said. 

Chairman West also asked about the effects of the "war on coal," questioning plans for the Jim Bridger Power Plant and whether all the units will be converted to natural gas. Wild said it is his understanding that units two and three at Jim Bridger had selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology installed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. Because this technology is expensive, Wild said he believes there is currently no reason to lose that investment by converting them. In general, he said he believes assets at coal plants around the state will continue to be used until they no longer provide a profitable return to the company, at which point they will be reevaluated. 

Commissioner Robb Slaughter asked how long it could take to address concerns like increased demand for energy and strain on the grid. Wild replied that Rocky Mountain Power hopes to have their plan put together by the end of the third quarter, but admitted that actually putting plans in place takes more time. He pointed to the Gateway West project, which has taken more than a decade to go through the permitting process. 

"Any type of new significant project will require a lot of new permitting," Wild said. "It's going to take some time to work through."

"That's what I was afraid you were going to say," Slaughter replied.