Salt Lake County Opts For 100% Renewable Electricity

The Salt Lake County Council has passed a resolution establishing a goal of powering the county with 100% clean, renewable electricity by 2030.

The resolution requires local utility Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to replace fossil fuel generation with renewable energy resources to meet the new commitment, explains the Sierra Club. In 2020, RMP will have to issue a filing with the Public Service Commission, conduct a yearlong demand study and begin the process of setting new electricity rates for participating customers.

Salt Lake County joins Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Oakley and Summit County as the eighth Utah community committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030, in compliance with H.B.411, according to the Sierra Club.

Under H.B.411 (the Community Renewable Energy Act), signed by Utah’s Gov. Gary Herbert earlier this year, Salt Lake County and the other municipalities and counties that commit to 100% renewable energy are protected from the cost to continue operating RMP’s “increasingly expensive” coal fleet past 2030, says the Sierra Club. Per the legislation, the deadline for cities and counties to join the program is Dec. 31, 2019.

“The Community Renewable Energy Act is not simply a made-in-good-faith 100 percent renewable energy goal; it is an actionable plan to bring participating Utah communities to the clean energy future,” says Lindsay Beebe of the Utah Sierra Club. “What’s more is that the bill is first-of-its-kind legislation that can be used as a blueprint in other states to encourage utilities to partner with communities to power themselves with 100 percent renewable energy.”