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Speakers tell PSC Northwestern’s IRP underweights wind and solar, fails to model climate impacts
Summary
Across multiple commenters, climate and environmental groups urged the commission to require Northwestern Energy to include climate impacts in its IRP modeling and to give stronger weight to wind, solar, and battery storage rather than new fossil or speculative nuclear options.
Speakers representing Climate Smart Missoula, the Montana Environmental Information Center, Protect Our Winters, and several local groups said Northwestern’s 2026 IRP gives insufficient attention to climate change and undervalues renewable resources. "This final IRP sets the wrong direction for Northwestern Energy," said Amy Cillenberg of Climate Smart Missoula, arguing the plan relies too heavily on fossil generation and nuclear while downplaying available solar and wind.
Shannon James of the Montana Environmental Information Center told the commission Northwestern’s modeling places undue emphasis on coal, gas, and small modular reactors (SMRs), noting that "not a single commercial SMR operates in the United States today." Multiple commenters asked the PSC to require Northwestern to re-run modeling that explicitly incorporates climate change impacts and to increase the role of cost-effective renewables and storage in its resource mix.
