20110909Decision Memo.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM 1
DECISION MEMORANDUM

TO: COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER REDFORD
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSION SECRETARY
COMMISSION STAFF
LEGAL

FROM: WELDON STUTZMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

DATE: SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

SUBJECT: CASE NO. IPC-E-11-11
IDAHO POWER’S APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF ITS 2011
INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN (IRP)

On June 30, 2011, Idaho Power Company filed an Application requesting the
Commission issue an Order accepting the Company’s 2011 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). As
directed in previous Commission Orders, the Company prepares and files a biennial IRP setting
forth how the Company intends to serve anticipated electrical requirements of its customers. The
2011 IRP consists of four documents: (1) the 2011 Integrated Resource Plan; (2) sales and load
forecast (Appendix A); (3) demand-side management 2010 annual report (Appendix B); and (4)
technical appendix (Appendix C). The primary goals of Idaho Power’s 2011 IRP are to: (1)
identify sufficient resources to reliably serve the growing demand for energy within Idaho
Power’s service area throughout a 20-year planning period; (2) ensure the selected resource
portfolio balances cost, risk, and environment concerns; (3) give equal and balanced treatment to
both supply-side resource and demand-side measures; and (4) involve the public in the planning
process in a meaningful way. Idaho Power Application, p. 3. To incorporate stakeholder and
public input in the IRP, the Company works with the Integrated Resource Plan Advisory Council
(IRPAC) comprised of members of the environmental community, major industrial customers,
agricultural interests, Idaho state legislators, representatives of the Commission Staff,
representatives from the Idaho Office of Energy Resources and the Northwest Power and
Conservation Council. Idaho Power Application, p. 2.
The IRP evaluates energy needs during a two 10-year planning period (2011-2020
and 2021-2030). Idaho Power expects its number of customers to increase from around 492,000
DECISION MEMORANDUM 2
in 2010 to more than 650,000 by the end of 2030. Idaho Power’s average load is expected to
increase by 29 average MW (1.4%) annually and summer time peak hour loads are expected to
increase by 69 MW (1.8%) annually through 2030.
The Application states that the Company responded to specific Commission
instructions when it approved the Company’s 2009 IRP in Order No. 32042. Specifically, the
Commission recommended the Company: (1) compare the risks, costs, and environmental
benefits of strategies that directly reduce emissions from its resource mix to the purchase of
emission offsets or offset options; (2) include in the 2011 IRP “a more detailed discussion on
how it plans to reach its carbon reduction goals and curtail its coal operations,” and
recommending that the Company include the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions per average
MWh associated with each portfolio; (3) “redouble its efforts to realize the achievable potential
for savings from efficiency and DSM programs documented in the Nexant report,” and
recommending that the Company identify economic and non-economic barriers to deployment of
energy efficiency and DSM initiatives; and (4) because the Company has increased reliance on
natural gas in its resource portfolio, the Company address in the 2011 IRP “the risks to the
Company and its customers associated with the reliance on such an economically volatile
commodity.” Idaho Power Application, p. 5. The Company states that it specifically addressed
each of these directives in the 2011 IRP.
Staff recommends that the Application of Idaho Power for acceptance of its 2011 IRP
be processed by Modified Procedure with a 60-day comment period, followed by a 14-day reply
comment period.
COMMISSION DECISION
Should the Application of Idaho Power for an Order accepting the Company’s 2011
Integrated Resource Plan be processed by Modified Procedure with a 60-day comment period,
followed by a 14-day reply comment period?

Weldon B. Stutzman
Deputy Attorney General

bls/M:IPC-E-11-11_ws