Planning commission asks staff to reference OPALCO long-range plan; utility data needed for solar siting requests

Commissioners examined edits to the utilities element and capital facilities inventory and discussed whether the comprehensive-plan draft should include OPALCO's (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) long-range planning and projected electrical demand. Planning Commissioner Bill said the utilities section should include current and projected power demands to provide a factual basis for future requests for utility-scale solar or other generation. "I think it would be good to include something very much like the chart," Bill said, referring to OPALCO-provided current and projected power and energy figures, and said such data are needed to evaluate acreage requests for solar fields. Sofia (DCD) said she did not plan to adopt OPALCO's long-range plan into the comp plan but would add a specific reference to OPALCO's planning document (by name and year) and could include a short summary of key figures in the utilities appendix so readers can locate the original plan. Staff also removed a volatile electric-vehicle inventory table from the utilities appendix at council direction because EV infrastructure data change quickly and are not solely under county control. Public commenter Chris Greason raised a separate utility-policy point: he cautioned against comp-plan language that would require new energy-generation facilities to "compensate for adverse impacts to the county's shorelines and rural character" in a way that could be subjective or impede renewable projects, and urged inclusion of agrivoltaics as an acceptable approach. Staff concluded that referencing OPALCO's long-range plan in the utilities appendix and providing a brief synopsis would better connect the comp plan to the technical information that providers maintain while avoiding adopting another agency's plan into the county document. The planning commission gave staff direction to add a specific citation and short summary to the hearing packet.