SPOKANE, Wash., April 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avista(NYSE: AVA), a leader in clean electricity, today announced its goal to serve its customers with 100 percent clean electricity by 2045 and to have a carbon-neutral supply of electricity by the end of 2027. This announcement bolsters Avista’s long-standing history of and well-established approach to providing clean, reliable and affordable energy to the customers and communities it serves.  

“We’re proud to announce this 100 percent clean electricity goal as an important step forward in caring for our environment while continuing to meet the energy needs of our customers and communities today and well into the future,” said Dennis Vermillion, president of Avista. “Since Avista’s founding on clean, renewable hydro power in 1889, we’ve served our customers with an electric generation resource mix that is more than half renewable, allowing us to keep our carbon emissions among the lowest in the nation.

“Avista has always been committed to balancing reliability and affordability while maintaining responsibility for our environmental footprint, and our actions demonstrate these values. Just in the last three years, we’ve implemented three renewable energy projects on behalf of our customers. Our Community Solar project in Spokane Valley, Wash., Solar Select project in Lind, Wash. and the Rattlesnake Flat Wind project in Adams County, Wash. together have allowed us to add to the clean electricity we already provide, meet the energy needs of our customers without increasing their bills and drive economic vitality in these communities.

“Avista’s clean energy focus is not limited to the electric generation resource mix. We view clean energy as a key element in driving economic development and shaping the sustainable communities of the future. Avista has created companies like Itron, Ecova and Relion that play a role in supporting clean energy and the efficient use of electricity. We serve as a founding partner of Urbanova, Spokane’s Smart City living laboratory that is testing smart city concepts and we’re creating an Ecodistrict in Spokane that will allow the company to not only shape how the grid of the future will operate but also define how buildings can be developed to operate and utilize energy in the most efficient manner.

“As we plan for the future, listen to our customers and continue to invest in renewable energy resources, we recognize the value of establishing a defined clean electricity goal. We are committed to continuing our investments in research, development and a smarter grid to support the trend of lower costs and improved technology that will enable a clean electricity future. We are well on our way to achieving our goal of 100 percent clean electricity and will continue to engage with our customers, partners and regulators to make this goal a reality,” Vermillion said.

Additional examples of Avista’s strong track record of environmental stewardship include:

• Forty years ago, Avista was one of the first utilities in the nation to establish an energy efficiency program, and since this program started, customer electric usage has been reduced by 15 percent.
• In the 1980’s, the company built the first utility-scale biomass wood-fired power plant, improving air quality where waste from the timber industry was otherwise burned onsite without emissions controls.
• Avista has enabled customers to switch from gasoline-fueled vehicles to natural gas-fueled and electric vehicles, building infrastructure to supply a cleaner fuel for vehicles and contributing to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

Learn more about Avista’s clean electricity goal and commitment to environmental stewardship at www.myavista.com/greener.

About Avista Corp.
Avista Corp. is an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Avista Utilities is our operating division that provides electric service to 388,000 customers and natural gas to 355,000 customers. Its service territory covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.6 million. Alaska Energy and Resources Company is an Avista subsidiary that provides retail electric service in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska, through its subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company. Avista stock is traded under the ticker symbol "AVA."  For more information about Avista, please visit investor.avistacorp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the company’s current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018.

SOURCE: Avista Corporation

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Source: Avista Corporation