EPHRATA – Grant County PUD commissioners learned this week that staff are actively researching electricity-generating natural gas plants as a potential new energy resource to support the county’s rapidly growing industrial demand.
During the utility’s first workshop of the year on Tuesday, commissioners were told that Grant PUD is examining the feasibility of locating natural gas power plants near major “load centers,” including the Wheeler corridor in Moses Lake and possibly Quincy. Load centers are areas with especially high electricity demand, often driven by industrial and large-scale commercial development.
According to staff, placing generation closer to where power is needed could reduce the need to build miles of new transmission lines, lowering infrastructure costs while improving reliability for customers in those areas.
Grant PUD staff emphasized that their focus is on natural gas generation technologies that could be adapted in the future to comply with Washington’s clean energy requirements. Natural gas produces less carbon than many other fossil fuels, and the plants under consideration could eventually be converted to run on non-carbon fuels such as hydrogen. This approach is intended to align with the state’s mandate to eliminate carbon-producing fuels from the energy supply by 2045.
In addition to in-county options, Grant PUD is also analyzing whether investing in a natural gas plant located out of state—particularly in a state without emissions-free energy policies—could provide electricity at a lower cost to local customers.
Natural gas is only one piece of a broader energy strategy under review. Staff continue to research investments in battery energy storage systems (BESS), geothermal energy, and small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as potential additions to Grant PUD’s existing mix of hydropower, solar, and wind generation.
Work is also ongoing to integrate Grant PUD into a new western energy market, the Southwest Power Pool’s “Markets +” initiative. Participation in the market is expected to help the utility maximize the value of surplus electricity it sells outside the county, ultimately benefiting local ratepayers.
Further analysis and discussion on these energy options are expected as Grant PUD continues planning for long-term reliability, affordability, and compliance with state energy policies.