Idaho sets record low solar price as it starts on shift to 100pct renewables

Idaho Power is one of the three big power companies that covers a portion of Idaho -- they serve the southwest, Avista is in the northwest, and PacifiCorp is in spots in the southeast [1].<p>Idaho Power has been, for several years, planning to pull out as a partner from the 3 coal power plants it has an ownership share in: North Valmy in NV, Jim Bridger in WY, and Boardman in OR [2]. Jim Bridger will have soon been due for an expensive upgrade because of environmental regulations, Boardman has seen consistent pressure from Oregon activists and regulators to bring the shutdown date closer, and North Valmy has seen less and less use because the other owner has succeeded meeting most of the Northern Nevada demand with a robust mix of natgas and solar, but also has fresh interconnects with Southern Nevada and Idaho.<p>In 2018, Idaho Power also joined [3] the Western Energy Imbalance Market, which streamlines realtime energy trading in the WECC interconnect. As time goes on and coal plants are retired, coal&#x27;s share will decline in the energy mix, and there will be an increasing amount of quasi-&#x27;baseload&#x27; solar available to buy in the energy market. And for the times in the day when the solar generation drops off and natgas plants would often be the next sellers, Idaho Power has plenty of its own hydro it can deploy to compensate. But note that despite their well-situated position with renewables, their target for 100% renewables is still 2045 -- relatively far off.<p>[1] (PDF) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oemr.idaho.gov&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;3.6.18-Energy-Landscape-2018.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oemr.idaho.gov&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;3.6.18-Energy-Land...</a> [2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spokesman.com&#x2F;stories&#x2F;2017&#x2F;sep&#x2F;16&#x2F;power-company-maps-energy-plan-for-idaho-and-orego&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spokesman.com&#x2F;stories&#x2F;2017&#x2F;sep&#x2F;16&#x2F;power-company-m...</a> [3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.idahopower.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;idaho-power-customers-will-benefit-regional-energy-market&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.idahopower.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;idaho-power-customers-will-b...</a>

Batteries are getting more reasonable too and dropping about 15% per annum. Roll on green energy. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cleantechnica.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;06&#x2F;09&#x2F;100-kwh-tesla-battery-cells-this-year-100-kwh-tesla-battery-packs-in-2020&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cleantechnica.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;06&#x2F;09&#x2F;100-kwh-tesla-battery-c...</a>

Idaho energy profile overview :<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;state&#x2F;?sid=ID" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;state&#x2F;?sid=ID</a><p>Hydroelectric power supplied 60% of net electricity generation in Idaho in 2017. If a large share of it were pumped storage hydro, that would be very helpful for a 100% renewable target (free electricity storage to replace batteries).<p>Idaho generates 0.4% of the USA&#x27;s electricity.

There are 62 companies that have an address matching 515 N 27th St Boise, ID 83702.<p>The companies are Helm Pv Solar One LLC, Tumbleweed Energy LLC, Grand View Solar Pv One, Life After The Fire Inc, Acc LLC, Thompson River Co Gen LLC, Richardson Investments LLC, Farm 2 Market LLC, Grand View Pv Solar One LLC, Mcomm LLC, Meadow View Investment Properties LLC, Alternative Power Development Northwest LLC, Bubba Gump Algae LLC, Pleasanton Property LLC, Global Trade Consulting Services LLC, Ameci Coffee Wine Bar, Earth Paw LLC, Solutionssite Inc, One Eighty Networks Inc, Best Buddies LLC, Occasionz Party Store LLC, Idaho Farm Energy Association Inc, Just Horse Inn Around LLC, Postural Integrity LLC, Clpr Investments LLC, Helm Pv Solar One LLC, Grand View Pv Solar Four LLC, Grand View Pv Solar Three LLC, Lhn LLC, Lifelong Learning Academy LLC, Orem Family Wind LLC, Mariah Wind LLC, Gonzalez Gonzalez LLC, Ch Property Services LLC, River Time Yoga LLC, B4dc Freight LLC, Hammerhead Enterprises LLC, Jerrod LLC, Ies Language Foundation LLC, Grand View Pv Solar Five A LLC, Magic Dirt LLC, Black Sands Solar, Black Sands Solar A, Jackpot Solar North LLC, Overton Solar LLC, Jackpot Solar South LLC, Jackpot Solar East LLC, Jackpot Solar West LLC, Carter Solar One LLC, Jackpot Solar 2 I LLC, Jackpot Solar 2 Ii LLC, Jackpot Solar 2 Iii LLC, Jackpot Solar 2 Iv LLC, Jackpot Solar 2 V LLC, Franklin Energy Storage Four LLC, Franklin Energy Storage One LLC, Franklin Energy Storage Three LLC, Franklin Energy Storage Two LLC, Jackpot Solar Annex LLC, Franklin Solar LLC, Jackpot LLC, and Jackpot Holdings LLC.<p>The sign outside the address, which is a small single family home, announces a law office.<p>This particular law office has been filing lawsuits against the Idaho power company for over a decade.<p>The Jackpot etc LLCs seem to connect to an alias out of Nevada.<p>There&#x27;s various information on these entities in a variety of places but no one&#x27;s put together a really complete picture. Here&#x27;s some interesting background from three years ago:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.puc.idaho.gov&#x2F;press&#x2F;161007_IPCJackpotSolar.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.puc.idaho.gov&#x2F;press&#x2F;161007_IPCJackpotSolar.pdf</a>

This is a rather misleading title, the article is about a single company (Idaho Power), not the state of Idaho.<p>The state still gets ~33% of its electricity from out of state, mostly from coal plants. In terms of overall energy, the state uses more than 3 times as much energy from fossil fuels as it generates from hydro, by the looks of it more natural gas based energy is used for heating than hydro is used for power. Unless my math is off the solar plant is question represents 0.077% of the states energy usage.<p>Source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;state&#x2F;?sid=ID" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;state&#x2F;?sid=ID</a>

The greatest strength of technology is the exponential gains in capability at constant cost over time, or alternatively the exponential decrease in cost over time for the same capability.<p>Sometimes that exponential gain gets partially squandered to provide for greater productivity or lower cost development or marketing gimmicks or tiny little improvements in the fringe UX which can offer subtle delights.<p>Other times the product is something constant and perfectly standardized like MWs or kWh (generation or storage of energy) and we can sit back as a society and watch the prices fall, fall, fall.<p>The endgame is abundant electricity at a fraction of the ecological cost used pervasively to power every aspect of the economy.<p>Electric cars aren’t sci-fi anymore. Now we dream of <i>flying</i> through electrical power alone, which is about as ostentatious as it gets.<p>It’s perhaps not the popular opinion on HN, and obviously a lot is at stake, but this is the making of the carbon-neutral economy, and it’s being done in a technologically and market driven approach that doesn’t involve trillions of dollars of taxes or regulatory burden.<p>I do not believe it will prove to be too little or too late. I absolutely believe that technologies will continue to evolve and be discovered that allow us to move our global ecological impact from the red (deficit) to the green (surplus) and in the very long term from a political sense, but in the blink of an eye for our planet, this 21st century panic will seem really quite overblown.<p>It’s crucially import for people to care. For people to dream up new ways to stop damaging the planet and even heal the planet. I just think time and again we underestimate human ingenuity and overestimate calamity.<p>Global climate [change] indeed impacts millions of people every year and carries a massive economic cost. I have absolute faith in the scientists and the inventors to constantly push us toward a healthy, clean, efficient, and <i>abundant</i> future.

Curious of the politics that has folks in Idaho talking so warmly about renewable energy. If you believe the national news, all red states want to keep burning coal. Curious about the background here.

&gt; at a cost of US2.175¢&#x2F;kWh<p>Are those units correct? Isn&#x27;t a kWh of power much cheaper than that already?<p>edit: My mistake. I was reading that as $&#x2F;kWh. You just don&#x27;t see stuff priced in cents very often anymore.

There&#x27;ll be the usual pro-fission claims from the anti-renewables taskforce I&#x27;m sure, but these kinds of stories continue to boost claims that we can move away from fossil+nostorage without any significant disruption.

is this an australian magazine writing about american Idaho or they have an idaho in Australia too?

It worries me that we worry more about the monetary cost of producing energy more than the energy cost of producing energy.

* After subsidies