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Show Western States Power Needs Could Double i Electric power ; requirements for the 11 western states are likely to increase more than 50 percent and could possibly double by the ! year 2000, according to ; the Utah Consortium for J Energy Research and Education. Reporting on an 18- month study, the three-; university consortium ; says reviews of a large number of electricity I demand projections in-I dicate demand could ; increase at an average ; annual rate ranging from 2.7 percent to 4.7 percent. The higher figure represents current ex-; pectations by utility companies presently ; generating electricity in the West, the study notes. Basically, it indicates I continuation ot the ; growth pattern ex-perienced in ' consortium researchers report that the 2.7 percent figure results from a number of projections "reflecting a growing impact from such conservation practices as increased insulation, mandated efficiency standards and voluntary reductions in usage produced through educational programs and or higher prices. According to the study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the growth in demand is likely to be sufficiently high to require a substantial increase in the generating capacity of the 11-state area by the year 2000. "The implication is that for the next two decades capacity expansion of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of power per year will be needed in the absence of major changes in consumption patterns," the study notes. The report also em phaslzes the "very real possibility" that major new conservation-oriented development may occur during the next two decades that would produce growth demands even lower than the 2.7 percent figure. Researchers from the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Utah State University the three schools comprising the consortium participated in the study, which was made with the cooperation of the Utah Energy Conservation and Development Council. The main thrust was a detailed examination of the power plant siting potential in Utah's portion of the 200,000-square mile Great Basin or 91 western desert .area, v The project was y coordinated by Dr. ( Ronald J. Pugmire, U of ) U associate vice pesident (k for research. Principal investigators included R. Thayne Robson, director of the Bureau of ) Economic and Business 0 Research at the U; Dr. f, Terrance F. Flover, (j professor of economics at Utah State University; A and Dr. Richard Oveson, V director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Brigham Young University. (j Nine "siting zones" in 4 Utah's western tier of counties are identified as j suitable for in-depth study as potential S locations for future power plants. These zones in- ( elude central-west i central Iron County; the ( Milford-Black Rock area i of Beaver and Millard counties; an area en- ( compassing parts of ' southern Sanpete County and northern Sevier County; eastern Juab ( County; northeast Millard County; western Juab County in the Fish , Springs Flat area; southeast Snake Valley near the Nevada border; western Box Elder i County; and northwestern Box Elder County. Each of these zones "almost certainly contains environmentally qualifiable power plant sites," according to consortium researchers, primarily because they are in desolate parts of the state. |