“CETCAP encourages investments in new and existing baseload flexible hydropower resources at a critical time when costs are rising sharply and generating resources in the Pacific Northwest are becoming scarce. It extends access to those benefits to public power and ultimately helps keep energy affordable and reliable for our customers.” – Chris Mattson, Tacoma Power Generation Manager
Project overview
The City of Tacoma, about 30 miles south of Seattle, recently launched a hydropower modernization project, extending the life of critical infrastructure at the Nisqually Hydro Project while maintaining reliable, flexible, clean energy generation for Tacoma Power customers and the region. The project also helped preserve and enhance generating capacity as the region faces growing resource adequacy challenges and increasing energy demand. Maintaining existing clean energy resources, especially those with energy storage, is critical to ensuring long-term grid reliability to support the community.
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Technical assistance provided
Guidance from Lawyers for Good Government, Giraffe Financial, and Avisen Legal helped the City determine eligible project costs, understand filing requirements and confirm the appropriate documentation to support their claim.
Outcomes and impact
The project increased the unit’s maximum power output by about 10%, allowing Tacoma Power to generate more clean energy from existing equipment while improving reliability and performance. The project also supports the state’s clean energy goals under the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), which requires utilities to provide 100% clean electricity by 2045.
- Historical annual generation: 108.1 kilowatt-hours (kWh)
- Annual generation after improvements: 110.2 kWh
- Incremental annual generation: 2.1 kWh
- Increase in annual generation: 2%
Washington Clean Energy Tax Credit Assistance Program (CETCAP)
In partnership with Lawyers for Good Government and Giraffe Financial, the Washington Clean Energy Tax Credit Assistance Program (CETCAP) team has helped more than 150 organizations statewide secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax credits by providing legal and filing assistance for hundreds of projects.
