Wednesday, January 28, 2015

USA, Oregon, Washington:

Report: Washington, Oregon Could Vastly Expand Renewable Power Production (KUOW)

Solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, geothermal and waste-to-energy electricity production could account for 98 percent of Oregon’s and Washington’s electricity needs in just 15 years, according to two new reports.

The reports from the Wind Energy Foundation's Renewable America project, which promotes wind development, say developing renewables would create hundreds of thousands of jobs for the region.

The analyses, “Powering Up Oregon” and “Powering Up Washington,” put forth two scenarios for alternative energy production. One documents the power production path each state is currently following. The second scenario – under which each state would reach nearly 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

Despite the concern to support growth of wind energy the reports recommend expansion of all renewable energy supplies.

For Oregon, the report includes a feature on the geothermal and solar projects at the Klamath Falls campus of the Oregon Institute of Technology. The authors call for up to 155 MW more of geothermal energy production.


However, in the Washington report both scenarios estimate an extremely limited deployment of geothermal energy.

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