Boise inks deal to buy solar power for Airport from Idaho Power - boisedev.com

Boise inks deal to buy solar power for Airport from Idaho Power

The City of Boise is moving closer to its goal of powering city facilities with 100% clean energy by 2030.

On Tuesday, the Boise City Council officially approved a power agreement with Idaho Power to purchase enough energy from the Black Mesa solar energy facility in Elmore County to power the Boise Airport and the Lander Street Water Renewal Facility through 2043. This purchase is through the recently approved state program Clean Energy Your Way, which allows large customers to specifically pay toward renewable energy.

The City of Boise and Micron Technology split purchasing all of the power output at the Black Mesa facility, both to achieve their renewable energy goals. Meta did a similar deal for its data center earlier this year.

The agreement was approved unanimously and Mayor Lauren McLean commended city staff for their work.

“This gets us ahead of schedule (with our clean energy goals) and I know we will beat those goals and it’s because of the commitment of our staff, the commitment to partnership with Idaho Power and so many people involved along the way including our residents who really want us to lead and recognize this will save us money in the long run by purchasing power at rates determined today for the next twenty years, and it’s clean power.”

Lander Street and the Boise Aiport make up 11% and 15% of the city’s total electricity use respectively. The city’s largest user is the West Boise Water Renewal Facility, which uses 30% of the city’s power.

The city pays roughly $1.5 million a year for the power at Lander Street and the Airport.

How does it work?

No, the power from the solar farm won’t be directly piped to the Boise Airport and Lander Street.

The philosophy behind Clean Energy Your Way is large customers, like the city or Micron, who want to be powered by 100% renewable electricity can pay Idaho Power directly toward these resources and lock in their rates so the company can keep investing in its energy transition, while also not forcing rate hikes on customers who don’t have those aggressive goals.

The power coming to the Airport and Lander Street will not be any different and it will not add instability to those two facilities. But, what this agreement does is it confirms Boise’s rates for this electricity through 2043.

The first two years of the contract the city will pay a premium toward the power from the solar facility toward getting the facility up and running and then by the third year the power cost will be the same for the city. By the other years, the city is expected to be paying less for the electricity from this facility than other Idaho Power customers.

“…There’s a high probability of the savings of the remaining years,” Steve Hubble, Boise’s climate action manager told the Boise City Council.

The city also will be paying into a contingency fund because of state laws preventing the localities from taking on debts without the voters’ permission and also to ensure customers who do not want a faster transition to renewable sources don’t see a price hike if the city backs out of the deal. This $810,000 contingency is being funded out of the Airport and Water Renewal enterprise funds, meaning they’re paid for out of operating revenue for both facilities.

The funds will be refunded to the city in two parts: one in ten years and another at the end of the contract in 2043.

The Idaho Public Utility Commission will still need to formally sign off on the agreement.