Planning Ahead

When you're in the energy business, planning ahead is key. This week PSE filed our vision of the future in the form of our draft Integrated Resource Plan, which is a document we file with the state's Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Although the plan won't be approved by the UTC until later this summer, the draft outlines the big picture of where we see the energy industry in the next two decades.

The short story is more wind power (the picture shows our Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in eastern Washington), more natural gas-fired electric generation and more direct use of natural gas (for heating and water-heating), and a lot more use of energy efficiency as a resource for meeting new growth. Combined, these strategies will address the environmental challenges we face, as well as meet economic demands for providing energy at a reasonable cost.

And grow we will, with an expectation that the number of people in our service area in Western Washington will expand by about one million people by 2029.

For the full drilldown, you can read an executive summary of the plan and really see some of the nuts and bolts of how PSE envisions our energy future.