We have an action-packed newsletter for you this month, starting off with an announcement about two new expert Board members. Crystal Ball is the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee (PNUCC), a nonprofit trade association of consumer-owned and investor-owned electric utilities and power industry partners that share a common interest in the efficacy and reliability of the Northwest power system.
Mariah Kennedy is the Director of Energy Policy at Microsoft, where she has worked since 2019. In this role, Mariah directs global policy and strategy on issues that include artificial intelligence (AI) and energy, assisting teams across Microsoft’s value chain in regions around the globe. We are so thrilled to welcome Crystal and Mariah to CETI and to begin learning from them.
We held an exceptionally informative Decarbonization Forum on Tuesday where we explored the impacts of AI and data center development on the electricity grid in the Northwest. We packed the room at K&L Gates, who sponsored the event, with attendees from utilities, businesses, state agencies, and clean energy advocacy organizations.
A huge thank you to the very impressive panelists who shared their knowledge and ideas for how to innovate collaboratively to solve the challenges posed by growing energy demand from these important industries: Brian Janous (Cloverleaf Infrastructure), Crystal Ball (PNUCC), Edith Bayer (Oregon Department of Energy), Kate Brouns (Governor Ferguson’s Office), Diane Brandt (Renewable Northwest), and Joshua Basofin (Climate Solutions).
I want to take this opportunity to give a big shout-out to The Russell Family Foundation (TRFF), who reached out to offer CETI additional funding for 2025 in light of the federal government’s actions since January 21. We are extremely grateful to TRFF for the additional $25,000 they provided for general operations with an expedited grant process.
But that’s not all! Read on for announcements about the energy efficiency workforce gap analysis we worked on last year, as well as other updates on how we are continuing to push hard on strategies to decarbonize the Northwest.
Eileen V. Quigley
Executive Director
CETI’s Decarbonization Forum Series aims to illuminate the trade-offs of complex aspects of decarbonizing the Northwest. Data Center Energy Use and Impact on the Clean Energy Transition was the second event in the series (if you missed our first forum in December 2024, check out our Demystifying Emissions Accounting webinar).
A full recap of our April 22 event about the impact of growing energy demand from data centers on the Northwest’s electricity system and clean energy transition can be found here. A recording of the event and panelists’ slides will be available soon.
CETI produced Data Centers, Artificial Intelligence, and Energy Use 101, a resource to demystify data center energy use, emissions, and the impact of AI, as well as ongoing efforts in the Northwest to understand the implications of data center demand for the grid.
In 2024, CETI worked on a project with Kinetic West, BW Research Partnership, and Uncommon Bridges to conduct a residential energy workforce gap analysis for a contract with the Washington State Department of Commerce.
The resulting study includes a landscape analysis of current and projected energy workforce needs; mapping existing workforce pathways, with a focus on outcomes for people historically underrepresented within these jobs; and meaningful engagement with people developing workforce strategies.
It also details recommendations for how Commerce might prepare Washington’s workforce to make residential building improvements to meet the state’s emissions goals.
The CETI team presented results from the Energy Wallet and Air Quality complementary analyses at a webinar that ODOE hosted on April 16. See recording and slides here. Now that the energy modeling and complementary analyses are complete, we have turned our full attention to partnering with BW Research Partnership on the jobs study portion of the Oregon Energy Strategy.
We have started work on a focused literature review and in-depth interviews to identify opportunities, barriers, and best practices for establishing community benefit agreements (CBAs) as a commonly accepted component of clean energy projects. We are working with Ross Strategic on this project for the Washington State Department of Commerce as a supplement to the Rural Clean Energy Economics and Community Engagement Study and Report produced last year.
This month's meeting of the Regional Engagement Committee brought news that the two 20-year scenarios developed over the last six months were approved by the WestTEC Steering Committee. One will explore high electricity load growth with rapid technology innovation, and the other will explore moderate growth and a conservative innovation trajectory. While results from the scenarios are not expected until late 2026, the 10-year reference case is planned for release in summer 2025. These will provide insights into where to develop regional transmission to enable reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Gridworks released a series of guides related to markets and transmission in the Northwest:
The CETI team will be attending several conferences the next few months. If you will be at any of these, too, let us know!
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