LOGAN – Having influenced the Logan Municipal Council to reject buying an interest in a natural gas power plant in Idaho back in January, members of the city’s Renewable Energy and Sustainability Advisory Board now want the council to consider constructing a 100-acre solar energy farm with battery storage.

That proposal surfaced during a regular council meeting on March 4, as the local RESAB chair outlined the panel’s vision of the city’s energy future balancing reliability, affordability and sustainability.

The solar farm and battery storage facility – with a price tag of more than $60 million – was jointly suggested by Tyson Godfrey, the chair of the RESAB, and Nathanael Weidler, the chair of the Logan Light & Power Board.

Despite the city’s previous decision not to purchase an interest in the aforementioned Idaho natural gas plant, the pair of advisors explained that Logan must still acquire additional capacity to meet future power needs.

In 2026, Logan will be required to join the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) consortium and its Extended Day-Ahead Market for power purchases.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) manages California’s electricity transmission grid and wholesale electricity market. CAISO is a non-profit organization that operates the electric grid for about 80 percent of California and a small part of Nevada. 

The Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) is a voluntary day-ahead electricity market designed to deliver significant reliability, economic and environmental benefits to areas and utilities throughout the West.

Under that system, to avoid financial penalties, Logan will be required to have available power capacity equal to 115 percent of forecasted demand available to be auctioned on the EDAM network.

In 2026, Godfrey and Weidler estimated that Logan’s power needs will about 56 mega-watts of base load – that is, everyday continuous capacity – as well as 103 mega-watts of peak load.

Electrical peak load is when the demand for electricity is at its highest and utilities must provide more power than normal. Peak load can occur at any time, but is often in the evening during the summer. 

Logan Light & Power now provides energy to city residents through a combination of both local generation and open market purchases. Fossil fuels account for about 64 percent of that capacity, while renewable sources add 22 percent and market purchases cover 14 percent of city needs.

But two coal-fired resources (the Sunnyside and Hunter plants) are retiring over the next seven years, with a combined loss of 18 mega-watts of power or about 32 percent of Logan’s base load capacity.

Under EDAM rules, the advisors estimate that capacity shortfall will cost the city between $3 million and $8 million in penalties annually.

But construction of a local solar array could provide 20 to 30 mega-watts of electricity with a four-hour battery storage capacity up to 120 mega-watt hours.

The benefits of such a local project, they emphasized, would be more local control of power generation, price stability and alignment with sustainability goals, including zero emissions and elimination of carbon footprint.

Of concern, however, is whether the project will be eligible for federal tax credits.

President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order suspending funding disbursements for so-call green energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

This directive halts grants, loans, contracts, and other financial incentives tied to clean energy initiatives. Federal agencies are required to review these programs to ensure alignment with the administration’s pro-fossil fuel energy policies before resuming funding.

But Godfrey and Weidler believe that the solar project is doable even without tax credits, although they acknowledge that costs involved would be admittedly hefty.

The expense associated with building the 20 to 30 mega-watt solar array are estimated at $33 million (without tax credits), including panels, inverters, installation, etc. The estimated cost of the storage system would be $25 million, plus land acquisition, preparation and substation construction costs of about $6 million.

No action was taken on the advisors’ proposal, as their presentation was a workshop item on the council members’ agenda.

In January, the member of the Logan Municipal Council voted 4-to-1 to turn thumbs down on Resolution 24-47, a proposal from the Logan Light & Power Department that would have committed the city to a 30-year, $284 million contract to purchase power from a new facility being constructed in Power County, ID.

That vote was greeted with spontaneous applause from the sizable partisan audience that was largely organized by Utah State University professor Patrick Belmont, who is also the vice chair of the city’s RESAB.

RESAB is a council and mayor advisory board. Board members meet to discuss issues related to energy conservation, air quality, waste and recycling, sustainability, renewable energy and how these issues fit into Logan’s future.