I must admit, prior to becoming managing editor of nwcurrent, neither my eye nor my pen were particularly drawn to the energy industry. Yet during the year and a half in which I have been covering the Northwest’s clean energy sector, I’ve come to find clear evidence the energy arena is entering a new and exciting era—and I’m glad I’ve been along for the ride.

It was a little more than a year ago that I interviewed Patrick Reiten, who, at the time, had been recently appointed president of Pacific Power, a division of PacifiCorp. In the exclusive interview, he discussed the utility’s conservation goals and its plans for acquiring new electricity sources in the coming years. When asked about PacifiCorp’s intentions to build three new coal-fired power plants in Utah and Wyoming in the next decade, Reiten noted load growth in Utah and the state’s general support for such plants compelled the utility to seriously consider such projects.

“You get into complex issues from a rate perspective,” Reiten said. “It’s not about PacifiCorp’s desire or not desire to build those plants. It’s about the relationship of cost and risk for customers.”

But in early December, PacifiCorp announced it had scrapped plans to build any future coal-fired power plants in the next decade, citing impending federal legislation limiting carbon-dioxide emissions as its main reason. The utility must now submit a new proposal to the Utah Public Service Commission for how it plans to produce 1,000 megawatts of new electricity between 2012 and 2015.

PacifiCorp’s recent decision is just one of many made by voters (Washington’s I-937 ballot initiative), legislators (Oregon’s Renewable Energy Act), utilities (Snohomish Public Utility District’s Climate Change Policy) and businesses (the list is endless) in the past year and a half to address the issue of global warming through increased development of renewable energy and implementation of energy-efficiency measures.

I’ve had the opportunity to talk with some of the region’s top energy professionals­—from CEOs of utilities to executive directors of nonprofits to business directors of renewable energy companies—and almost all recognize the Northwest is poised to become a leader in renewable energy generation and climate change legislation—while boosting the region’s economy. In fact, taking a look back at 2007, a number of landmark policy decisions and company announcements show the region is already well on its way.

In June 2007, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed into law Senate Bill 838, the Oregon Renewable Energy Act. The bill, which passed both the state House and Senate with bipartisan support, requires Oregon’s largest utilities to obtain 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. The law came less than a year after voters in Washington passed ballot initiative 937 requiring utilities to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire attracted national attention in May 2007 when she signed Senate Bill 6001, which legally enacts the governor’s timeline for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state. The law sets severe limits on the carbon emissions from power plants built or used to meet the electricity needs of Washington residents. It also establishes milestones for reducing greenhouse gas emissions—the first, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Washington to 1990 levels by 2010.

Gov. Gregoire also set a strong precedent in September 2007 when she overturned the Kittitas Board of Commissioners’ decision to prevent the development of a new wind-power project near Ellensburg, Wash. It was the first time a governor overturned a local decision about a power plant. Wind developers, many of which have in recent years opened regional offices in Portland, lauded her decision (see “Current Power Broker: Darin Huseby,” nwcurrent, Oct. 2007).

German manufacturer SolarWorld Group announced its intention in March 2007 to open a manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Ore. When fully operational, the Hillsboro plant would become the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the United States. In June, Solaicx, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based manufacturer of silicon wafers used to make photovoltaic panels, announced plans to open a 136,000 square-foot, high-volume manufacturing facility in Portland.

Vestas Americas, a subsidiary of Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems, continues to expand its North American headquarters in Portland, while additional wind energy companies such as North Palm Springs, Calif.-based enXco (the largest third-party operator of wind farms in the United States) set up shop in the rainy city.

With heightened awareness of climate change, utilities across the Northwest are developing strategies to assist both residential and commercial customers address climate change.

Many of the region’s utilities—both big and small, both private and public—are leading the nation for convincing customers to purchase renewable energy, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 2007, PacifiCorp was ranked No. 2 in the nation for its number of renewable energy customers, while Portland General Electric (PGE) held the No. 3 spot. For the second year in a row, PGE ranked No. 1 for the amount of renewable energy consumed by its customers. Residential customers purchased 3.4 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy in 2006, a 23 percent increase from 2005. Such accomplishments further demonstrate the market conditions in the Northwest are ideal for businesses marketing clean energy services.

In “How to Manage Climate Programs through Your Utility,” nwcurrent’s first in a series of three Web conferences, two of the region’s leading renewable energy experts offered suggestions for ways in which utilities can enhance their renewable energy services to better meet customers needs.

Angus Duncan, founder and chairman of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and former Northwest Power and Conservation Council appointee, and Tom MacLean, manager of customer renewable energy programs at Puget Sound Energy, led the discussion. If you missed it, their presentations can be found online at www.nwcurrent.com/webconferences.

A record number of attendees joined nwcurrent’s most recent Web conference, “Third-Party Solar Financing Solutions,” citing their top reason for joining as increasing demand from customers for renewable energy services. The conference, which continued well over its hour-long time slot to allow for additional questions, provides even greater evidence that utilities, government agencies and companies are hungry for such information.

Our regular columnists—Dick Watson, Ron Pernick and Jeff Morris—as well as guest columnists including Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, PS Reilly of the Athena Institute and Christopher Flavin of Worldwatch Institute, offered insiders’ insight into the technologies, policies and behavioral changes that are helping the region address energy conservation and climate change at a time when demands on our transmission system are becoming increasingly strained.

While difficult to capture all of the year’s milestones in this limited space (I have newfound appreciation for the word limits I place on columnists), 2007 has undisputedly been an unprecedented year for the region’s energy sector. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been interviewing a regional energy leader, many of whom have worked in the clean energy arena for years, and been told they can’t keep up with the email messages, the phone calls, the meetings, the conferences and other opportunities to connect with folks working toward conservation and renewable energy development.

Amory Lovins, co-founder and current chairman of Snowmass, Colo-based Rocky Mountain Institute—perhaps the most fitting person with which to make my point—probably said it best.

“I think all practitioners notice that they can’t answer their phones fast enough, and that the people calling are generally of more weight than previously,” he told nwcurrent earlier this year. “This is a very exciting stage and we just need to figure out how to step up rapidly to what the world expects of us—now that everyone is on our doorstep.”

Becky Brun is the managing editor of nwcurrent, of which this is the last edition. She is also associate editor of Sustainable Industries magazine, where she covers energy and green building.