Buffett utility reaffirms faith in US renewables with 4.3GW wind and solar expansion plan

Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp is seeking regulatory approval to add 4.35GW of onshore wind and large solar capacity to its six-state western US system through 2030, reaffirming the utility group’s commitment to renewables as a “least-cost and least-risk” energy resource.

PacificCorp is among several US large utility owners such as American Electric Power and Xcel Energy moving ahead with plans to either build or contract onshore wind since President Donald Trump took office, despite hostility toward the sector from his administration.

PacifiCorp, which serves California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, submitted its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to utility regulators in those states this week.

The IRP is a full planning process completed every two years that serves as a road map for determining and implementing the company’s long-term resource strategy.

The IRP “preferred portfolio” calls issuing requests for proposals (RFPs) for 2.27GW of new onshore wind resource in addition to 1.56GW previously contracted, some of which is due online this year and/or in 2026.

At the end of March, PacifiCorp utilities Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power owned 2.93GW of onshore wind capacity and had another 2.21GW under contract.

PacifiCorp also proposes 2.1GW of new grid-scale solar in addition to 1.73GW previously contracted and due to enter commercial operation by the end of 2026.

The company would like to more aggressively add energy storage capacity to its system. It presently has about 1.1GW under contract. The 2025 IRP calls for 1.69GW of new four-hour storage resources and 511MW of 100-hour iron air storage.

In the IRP, PacifiCorp told regulators that repeal of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the 2022 US climate law, is unlikely in Congress where Trump’s Republicans hold a majority.

His administration could, however, rescind or modify regulations and guidance issued to date on how to implement the law’s provisions, or slow payment of grants and loans.

“This action would make it difficult for companies and individuals to plan with certainty with respect to claiming tax credits for investments in new renewable and non-emitting technologies including EVs and offshore wind,” it said.

The IRP assumes both planned wind and solar capacity will qualify for federal tax credits at full value plus a 10% bonus for their location in energy communities, which are brownfield sites, or census tracts containing former coal mines closed since 1999 and/or coal-fired plants off-line since 2009.

PacifiCorp is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, itself a division of Berkshire Hathaway, the nation’s largest conglomerate whose CEO is Buffett.