SMUD’s IRP was adopted by its Board of Directors in October 2018. The plan meets or exceeds state carbon reduction goals by committing to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Guided by the IRP, SMUD will fully offset its carbon emissions by 2040, equal to net zero carbon emissions, five years ahead of the state mandate.
Currently, on average, more than 50 percent of SMUD’s power mix is carbon free, and SMUD will continue to pursue expanding its diversified renewable portfolio to meet or exceed state mandates for renewable energy and carbon reductions.
With a focus on local renewables, the plan includes 180 MW of geothermal by 2040.
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The SMUD IRP has the following comments on geothermal energy:
We estimate that about 650 MW of new geothermal resources from out-of-state regions (Pacific Northwest and Southern Nevada) could be available for SMUD in the 2019-2030 period. Geothermal is assumed to be a must-take baseload resource operating at a capacity factor range of 80 to 84%. As one of the few resources that is both essentially GHG-free and available to serve baseload needs, geothermal resources can be an attractive future resource option.
However, lead times for new developments are often long and the underlying production potential of the steam source can be uncertain. In addition, the long-term levelized cost of geothermal resources is often significantly higher than
wind and solar resources (even after considering the integration costs of wind and solar).
Therefore, we did not add any new geothermal capacity to our resource portfolio as part of the IRP until after 2030. However, if new or existing geothermal resources were to be offered at competitive prices compared to other renewables (e.g. during resource solicitations), or if the need for additional GHG-free baseload resource arises, we may consider geothermal resources sooner than reflected in our IRP.
