Seattle City Light Faces a Looming Power Shortage

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Seattle City Light (SCL) is facing perhaps the most consequential time of its 120-year history as the utility begins the search for new power resources needed to head off looming electricity shortages. Brownouts may be in the future.

Later this year, SCL will issue requests for proposals for new wind and solar generation to help close the growing gap between its traditional power sources (hydropower and the Bonneville Power Authority) and soaring regional demand.

After years of slow growth, in 2024 City Light officials delivered new forecasts of soaring power needs. The reasons? Climate-change regulations are forcing utilities to shutter generators fueled by natural gas and coal. Meanwhile, energy demand rises due to regional population growth, more extreme weather, and data centers’ burgeoning appetite for power.

City Light’s 2024 resource plan forecasted the need to add 1,825 megawatts (MW) of power by 2033 — enough to serve more than 1 million homes — up from an additional 400 MW forecasted just two years earlier. The future forecast exceeds the 1,207 MW annual output of the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant near Richland, the state’s single power reactor.

https://www.postalley.org/2026/03/17/seattle-city-light-faces-a-looming-power-shortage/