Power companies are blunt: Growing pot hogs electricity
Already, the pot industry claims 1 percent of electricity use in one Colorado service area.
Energy regulators from around the country finished a conference in Austin on Wednesday discussing a high-minded issue: pot and power.
In “The Straight Dope on Energy & the Marijuana Industry,” a joint discussion at turns earnest and light, panelists at the meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners took up how the growing cannabis industry will affect the electric grid as more states legalize pot.
Indoor marijuana production has intense lighting needs — enough to essentially mimic sunshine — while it also requires an array of heaters, generators and fans and uses an abundance of water. All that takes a lot of energy. Marijuana hasn’t been legalized in Texas. But it’s been approved for medical and recreational use in a host of states, making the issue a small but significant one for utilities.
Already, the marijuana industry accounts for roughly 1 percent of retail electricity use in one company’s Colorado service area.
Alice Jackson, vice president for rates and regulatory affairs for Xcel Energy, said that at a focus group last week in Colorado, 16 customers were asked to name the most energy-intensive thing in their home.
While most guessed appliances like dryers, one said his pot closet.
Jackson said that while the
company doesn’t give tips about how to grow marijuana — to laughter from the audience — it has had to help upgrade circuitry around garages being converted into growing areas, partly as a safety measure.
“Marijuana cultivation is a very energy-intensive crop,” said Willie Phillips, a member of the District of Columbia Public Service Commission, citing data that growing four mature pot plants requires the energy equivalent of running 24 refrigerators.
“We can bake those numbers, but we know it’s high,” Phillips said — to more audience chuckles — adding that some condo developments in D.C. now advertise the potential for marijuana growing closets.
Marijuana in the District of Columbia can be grown and shared, but not sold or purchased. “The load growth is real.”
“As regulators,” Phillips said, “we can sit back on our hands and be reactionary or think outside the box and see what we can do to achieve our (policy) goals” on energy use and emissions.
Panelist John C. Morris, who heads West Coast policy and regulatory affairs for Austin-based energy consulting firm CLEAResult, told about meeting with a marijuana grower who is converting a 90,000-square-foot warehouse into a grow house.
Even with efficient LED lighting and rooftop solar panels, the grower was looking at a monthly electric bill of $1 million.
He said utilities have to decide how to charge growers who need upgrades in transformers as they ramp up their business.
The session had tongue-in-cheek moments. One audience member asked about the potential for carbon offsets with marijuana plants.
Another asked if the marijuana industry could be persuaded to sponsor next year’s conference — and provide samples.