Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Integrated Resource Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee recommends approval of Seattle City Light's 2026 Integrated Resource Plan
Summary
A City Council committee voted 4-0 to recommend Resolution 32206, acknowledging Seattle City Light's 2026 Integrated Resource Plan that projects a 20-year need for new firm and storage resources driven by electrification and growing peak load. The resolution advances to full council June 23.
Rob Santoff, interim general manager and CEO of Seattle City Light, told the committee on June 17 that the utility's 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) looks 20 years ahead to ensure "we meet the future electricity needs safely, sustainably, and" reliably. The committee voted 4-0 to recommend Resolution 32206 to the full City Council.
The IRP presentation, led by Rebecca Klein and Kathryn Ewing of City Light's resource planning team, forecasted substantial new resource needs driven by sustained load growth from building and transportation electrification and by increasing weather volatility. "For the primary IRP analysis, we limited supply resources to wind, solar," Klein said, and added the analysis layered "generic energy" and on-demand resources to ensure reliability. City Light staff told the committee the portfolio study shows about 1,700 megawatts needed in the first decade and about 1,900 megawatts in the second decade, for roughly 3,600 megawatts across 20 years, split between battery storage and firm energy.
The IRP also evaluated transmission and called for roughly 300 megawatts of additional transmission in the first 10 years and another 200 megawatts in the following decade, staff said. Siobhan Doherty, supply officer, emphasized the importance of firm resources and storage to meet peak hours: "The generation resources need to be able to reliably meet the peak load on an hourly basis, even during extreme events."
Councilmembers pressed staff on how the utility would smooth peaks. A council member asked about supporting home battery storage; City Light replied it had piloted concepts and planned to build distributed energy resource management capabilities in 2027, then start a "bring-your-own-battery" pilot focused on customers who already own batteries. City Light said that without these and other supply investments, the city risks reliability shortfalls.
The committee suspended rules to allow an immediate vote and recommended the resolution be sent to the June 23 full council meeting. No amendments were made; formal approval remains with the full council.
