Last month, I announced my plans to step aside to make way for a new leader of the Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI), and I am pleased to say that the job announcement for this exciting opportunity is posted!

If you or someone you know are a fundraiser and a strategic thinker who is deeply committed to accelerating an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest and eager to work with the talented and mission-driven CETI Team, I encourage you to apply or suggest candidates through the candidate referral form. The job announcement can be downloaded here. Any questions regarding the opportunity and search can be directed to Julie Edsforth at Clover Search Works.

The CETI Team is working on a Decarbonization Forum that we aim to hold in July on why the Northwest needs transmission. We will highlight the WestTEC 10-Year Horizon, report discussed below, and bring together key policymakers, grid planners, businesses, and state agencies to learn why regional transmission expansion is necessary and beneficial for the Northwest, how it might happen, and the ways it could accelerate decarbonization.

As you will see when you read on, we have a new section of our newsletter, Worth a Listen or a Read, where we share interesting podcasts and articles/blogs that jump out at us. We hope you find something in there that piques your curiosity.

Until next month,
Eileen V. Quigley
Executive Director

Program Updates

SCALE 2030

CETI’s SCALE 2030 program has made considerable progress since the beginning of the year on the Clean Buildings Transition Roadmap for Washington with strategic input from the SCALE 2030 Advisory Group and from a series of additional input meetings.

The Roadmap builds on strategies from the SCALE 2030: Clean Buildings Transition Framework for Washington report and proposes a set of concrete, critical-path actions between now and 2030 that would implement SCALE 2030’s systemic approach to clean buildings.

Actions are grouped into six major levers for change: building sector targets, dedicated funding, accelerated market transformation, utility regulation, codes and standards, and financing tools.

The team is also hard at work developing a new SCALE 2030 website that will be published later this spring and will house the Roadmap.

Featured Report: Montana Regional Transmission Connectivity Study

The recently released Montana Regional Transmission Connectivity Study analyzes transmission upgrades that would increase regional access to electricity generated in Montana as demand for electricity grows. The Northwest Energy Coalition (NWEC) commissioned Energy Strategies and Montara Mountain Energy to conduct the analyses.

The pathways focus on minimizing impacts on people and landscapes as part of a forward-looking, community-first approach to transmission planning. The pathways analyzed are general corridors and do not represent any decisions about routing of transmission lines.

“This study is a tool to begin important and necessary conversations to achieve the goal of a safe, reliable and efficient electricity grid that can provide access to the lowest cost energy resources while increasing grid reliability and economic development opportunities for Montana.” - Northwest Energy Coalition

• Check out the full report

Demystifying Decarbonization: WestTEC 10-Year Horizon Report

Northwest power planners expect substantial growth in electricity demand in the immediate future and for decades to come. The latest forecast from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, released in 2025, projects annual electricity demand growth in the range of 1.8% to 3.1% from 2027 to 2046 with an average annual growth rate of approximately 2.6%. Data centers, industrial uses, as well as transportation and building electrification are among the drivers of rising demand.  

This month, Research Analyst Jeanne Currie breaks down the contents of the WestTEC West-wide Transmission Study: 10-Year Horizon Report, an important study that offers modeling to guide future grid planning and reliability throughout the West. Learn what’s at stake and the opportunities the region has for refurbishing existing transmission and developing new lines.

• ‍Read the blog

Worth a Listen or a Read  

• 'Oil shocks, power prices, and grid bottlenecks' (Open Circuit) with JP Morgan’s Michael Cembalest offers up-to-date commentary on the energy impacts of the war with Iran.
• Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin had an excellent piece in late January, 'Why the Northeast’s Cap and Trade Market is Suddenly Controversial' that analyzes how the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)—the carbon market for the electricity sector back East—has evolved since 2008 and the role it might play now to mitigate high electricity prices.
• Geothermal emerged last year as a potentially viable clean energy solution for firm power. Two podcasts early this year examine the state of play for this promising technology: 'Is this Geothermal’s breakout moment?' (Open Circuit) and 'Digging deep for super hot geothermal' (Catalyst).
• As rising electricity prices roil the clean energy transition, distributed energy resources continue to garner attention. Shayle Kann’s discussion with James McGinniss of David Energy on 'The rise of permissionless DERs' provides an interesting window into “plug-in” or “permissionless” distributed energy solutions.
• As our SCALE 2030 project progresses, we continue to consume as much information as we can on what it will take to decarbonize the building sector. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of building decarbonization strategies and implementation with us, check out Reframe Podcast.
• 'Who controls power in the AI era?' (Open Circuit) is an illuminating discussion with Caroline Golin, who spent seven years leading Google’s energy market development, procuring electricity and dealing with capacity constraints. Golin was a short-lived Open Circuit co-host (Jan 9-Mar 6) and it is worth listening to this pod and the other eight she was on to get a hyperscaler insider’s take on AI and data centers.
• We found 'AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet' (Catalyst) to be a topical analysis of the various pathways that might meet AI's demand for power in the next decade.
• This piece in Axios, 'How data centers could help revive downtowns,' makes the argument that cities that are wired with highspeed fiber optic cables and filled with empty office buildings could provide smaller data center locations that are easier to site than larger ones in suburban or rural areas.
• David Roberts’ 'What is PJM and why is everyone so mad' about it is a helpful podcast, especially when paired with 'From PJM reform to VPPs: The politics of making electricity cheaper' (Open Circuit), which is wonkier so benefits from the Volts explainer.
• The superb climate and clean energy data analyst, Hannah Ritchie, published a great piece on a topic we dove deep into at our January Addressing Aviation’s Climate Impacts Decarbonization Forum, namely how to decrease emissions from plane contrails. In her By the Numbers Substack, Richie writes that getting aircraft dispatchers and pilots to use routes that could cut contrails by almost two-thirds is crucial.
• For those looking for longer-form reading, Jeanne recently read 'The Crazies: The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West' and highly recommends it to those looking for a real life story of the hurdles faced by clean energy development in the Northwest.

Stay Tuned. . .

Jeanne and Eileen will be attending two conferences this spring:

• The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA)’s Efficiency Exchange (EFX) conference will be held at the Boise Center in Boise, ID on May 5 and May 6 with optional pre-conference events and activities on Monday, May 4. Learn more and register here.
• The Northwest Energy Coalition (NWEC) is hosting a Northwest Transmission Summit in Boise, ID on May 7 and May 8. Learn more and register here.

GridForward is hosting a conference focused on reprioritizing affordability to modernize the grid on September 29 and September 30 in Utah. Learn more and register here.

NEEA has been putting on a ‘Commercial Whole Building Market Insights’ webinar series. You can find recordings from past webinars and register for the remaining events here.

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