IID to host public workshops on Integrated Resource Plan

EL CENTRO — The Imperial Irrigation District currently is seeking public input about its Integrated Resource Plan, which outlines a 20-year path to meet customer needs while reducing the use of fossil fuels.

How the district achieves these goals will have a meaningful impact on the local economy, and IID officials encourage the community to participate and help shape the plan during two workshops scheduled this week.

The first workshop will begin at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the IID Board Room at 81-600 Ave 58, La Quinta, with the second at 2 p.m. Thursday at the William R. Condit Auditorium, 1285 Broadway, in El Centro.

“The biggie here is we are trying to get input from the public, and we also want them to be aware of the mandates that are going down,” said Marc Printy, IID manager of resource planning. “This workshop will show them what we are looking at. For us, and the whole state of California, fossil fuel plants are being phased out. The big cost is renewables and storage, which is like our battery system here. You are going to see more of those popping up all over the place. Fossil fuels are a lot cheaper, but that is not the way California is going. We are going to have to meet the mandates.”

Mandates

California Senate Bill 350 requires specified publicly owned utilities, including IID, to adopt an IRP consistent with Utilities Code Section 9621. An IRP is used to help guide the decision-making process as to how IID plans to meet its forecasted annual peak and energy demand while at the same time reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The goals are accomplished by using a combination of current and new supply-side and demand-side resources over a 20-year forecast period.

During the workshops, IID officials will discuss the overall IRP process, timeline and status; California Energy Commission Guidelines and SB 350; key challenges facing IID; a study plan; and topics impacting the IID service, such as load forecast, resource procurement plan, renewable portfolio standard, greenhouse gas emission, retail rates, disadvantaged communities, electric vehicles, and transmission and distribution.

For more information or to watch the workshops online, visit www. iid.com/IRP.