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Region producing more using less electricity |
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January 10, 2017 |
Reprinted with permission from the
Columbia
Basin Bulletin
The Pacific Northwest’s economy is growing,
overall employment levels are now exceeding
levels from before the 2008 recession, and the
region continues to produce more goods and
services using less electricity, according to a
staff presentation at the Northwest Power and
Conservation Council’s Power Committee meeting
in Portland on December 12.
The recovery has not been uniform, however, with
faster recovery in cities compared to rural
areas.
Electricity sales declined in 2016 by 750
average megawatts compared to 2015, an amount of
power equal to the annual electricity demand of
538,500 Northwest homes.
The reduction is due to multiple causes,
including warmer weather – 2016 was six percent
warmer than average – and this reduced demand
for power in homes with electric furnaces and
water heaters.
Other factors include losses in the industrial
sector including the temporary, partial closure
of one of the two remaining Northwest aluminum
plants, and the continued growth in energy
efficiency acquisitions by utilities and their
customers, which also has the effect of reducing
demand for power.
One surprising factor that contributed to the
reduction in electric utility retail sales was
the growth of rooftop solar arrays, said Council
staff.
The number of these “behind the meter”
installations increased by 20 percent between
2015 and 2016. More of this energy is being used
on-site instead of being sold back to local
utilities, probably due to the increased use of
battery systems in homes and businesses.
In 2015 there were 23,374 solar power
installations in the region, compared to 28,202
in 2016, an increase of nearly 5,000. The amount
of energy sold to utilities from these
installations was 16,916 megawatt-hours in 2015,
but just 6,529 megawatt-hours in 2016. For
comparison, over the last 10 years the Northwest
average electricity use per home has been 12.2
megawatt-hours per year.
While overall power use declined, productivity
did not. In 2016, the region continued to do
more with less electricity as the result of
energy efficiency programs. The dollars of
economic output per megawatt-hour of electricity
consumption continued an increase of about 1
percent per year that began in 2013, said
Council staff.
Preliminary data for 2017 shows that the economy
is continuing to grow, the number of people
employed has gone beyond pre-recession levels,
electricity sales appear to be stronger than in
2016, up four percent for the first eight
months, as do utility revenues from power sales.
Through the first eight months of the year,
sales were up six percent, at least partly
because of the cold January and the hot summer.
As well, the region continues to produce more
goods and services using less electricity. |
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