By Nick Fitzmaurice, Missoula Current
This weekend, the Northwest faced extremely cold temperatures, a reminder that winter is well underway. With seasonal extremes come peaks in energy demand as heaters work harder to keep our homes and businesses safe and warm. NorthWestern Energy, Montana’s primary electricity supplier, attempted to address this peak demand with a news release and pandering media coverage. However, there is more to the story.
NorthWestern Energy is sticking with its exaggerated claims that Montana needs expensive coal and methane gas thermal resources for extreme conditions like these, but this is far from the truth. In fact, coal and methane generation sources are the true Achilles’ heel of reliability in extreme cold.
