Monthly Archive for February, 2011

PVREA building one of Colo.’s largest smart meter projects

Published on February 25, 2011 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Tri-State member Poudre Valley REA has contracted with Landis & Gyr for the installation and deployment of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) on the cooperative’s 3,600 miles of power lines.  The system components are a major part of Poudre Valley’s efforts in moving toward smart grid technology.

The project will include automated energy monitoring and control capabilities to help achieve greater efficiency and detect surges and interruptions in the power supply.  AMI hardware and software will enable real-time grid diagnostics across the 2,000 square mile PVREA service area.

Portions of the AMI system went online in the third quarter on 2009.  By the end of 2010 approximately 4,000 meters had been installed in areas surrounding Berthoud.  The timeline calls for an additional 6,000 – 7,000 meters installed in 2011.  Projected completion date for the project is 2014 when all 36,000 meters will be on AMI.

Continental Divide Electric and Tri-State contribute to weatherization project

Published on February 23, 2011 in Energy Efficiency, General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Tri-State and member co-op Continental Divide Electric Cooperative (Grants, N.M.) recently awarded $1,000 to the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments (COG) to help weatherize 70 homes and businesses in the Village of Milan.  The matching grant was made possible through Tri-State’s long-standing Energy Efficiency Credits program. 

Continental Divide general manager Robert E. Castillo said that the co-op wants to embrace efforts to help its members achieve energy efficiency.  ”In this day and age, it’s imperative we all work together to come up with solutions that help the co-op, its power provider, and above all its members cut energy costs and usage,” Castillo said.

The COG and its project administrator approached the co-op in December about “Project ECO,” which will use federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money – “stimulus funds” – to weatherize 60 homes and 10 businesses in Milan, in the hopes of saving about 23,000 killowatt-hours of electricity and about 1,100 therms of natural gas savings annually – about a 5 percent reduction overall.

Affordability message hits the airwaves

Published on February 21, 2011 in General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Starting today, the “We Believe In” 30-second TV spot is airing on a number of local broadcast channels, cable networks and stations in markets throughout Tri-State’s four-state member system service territory.

Across its entire enterprise, Tri-State’s initiatives and actions are focusing on the value of affordable electricity. The affordability message is being incorporated in the association’s ongoing awareness campaign in 2011, with that theme being featured in a coordinated set of television, radio and print advertising materials.

Members of Tri-State’s communications staff have been working closely with the G&T’s advertising agency over the past several weeks to develop and produce commercials and ads that illustrate the crucial, essential role affordable electricity plays in our lives, businesses, communities and the overall economy.

Tri-State supports hydro project to serve Poudre Valley REA

Published on February 18, 2011 in Clean Energy, General and Renewable Energy. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Tri-State’s board of directors approved two contracts at their February monthly board meeting between Tri-State and Poudre Valley REA for a 20-year generation contract and a 10-year financial support contract that contributes towards members meeting renewable portfolio standards to support a 2.6-megawatt hydroelectric project on Carter Lake, west of Loveland, Colo.

The Carter Lake Hydroelectric Project will be constructed and operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD). Poudre Valley REA will purchase the output of this new facility under a power purchase agreement with the water district.

According to Carl Brouwer, project manager for the NCWCD, annual generation for the hydro facility is estimated at between 7 and 10 gigawatt-hours and the total projected cost of the project is $6.2 million. Construction of the new power plant on the 112,000-acre-foot, 3-mile lake is scheduled to begin late this year and operation is expected to commence by the summer of 2012.

Tri-State member Delta-Montrose’s Community Solar Array greets the dawn

Published on February 16, 2011 in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, General and Renewable Energy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Hotchkiss K-8 teacher Anita Evans (right) brought a group of sixth graders to the Community Solar Array kick-off in Montrose that drew more than 100 people on a chilly "polar solar" morning on Feb. 11.

Nearly 200 people braved chilly temperatures at two events on February 11, designed to celebrate the completion of Community Solar Arrays installed at Delta-Montrose Electric Association‘s Montrose headquarters and at its Read facility in Delta County, Colo.

Following expected approval of a solar tariff at a rate hearing on February 22, DMEA members will be able to lease very small increments of the two 10 kilowatt (kW) arrays and receive a proportional credit on their bill.

DMEA’s renewable energy engineer Jim Heneghan noted that United Power pioneered the Community Solar Array concept and appreciated the time United Power staff worked with him to develop DMEA’s program. “Sharing good ideas to better serve our member-owners is another reason that cooperatives serve consumers’ interests better than do other electric service providers,” said Heneghan.

Heneghan said that DMEA’s innovative addition to the concept was to make available a very affordable entry point – just $10 to lease 2.67 watts of capacity – so that virtually anyone could afford to participate.  A $10 lease should generate about $.50 worth of electricity annually. A larger investment will generate a larger credit over the course of the year.

DMEA began taking “reservations” for capacity on its website since it can’t actually take payments for solar leases until March 1, when the new tariff is expected to go into effect. As of February 15 DMEA had received reservations for about 10,000 watts, half of both arrays’ capacity.

Carbon sequestration project near Craig moves forward

Published on February 15, 2011 in Clean Energy, General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Tri-State is a partner in a coalition that is studying geologic formations in western Colorado for their ability to sequester carbon dioxide underground.  If successful, this test site could potentially serve as a regional sequestration site for power plants, gas processing plants, oil shale production and other industries that are a significant part of western Colorado’s economy.  The Craig Daily Press recently profiled this project.

Zach Logan, a field assistant with Colorado Geology Survey, takes a reading on a hillside last year along Moffat County Road 33, north of Hamilton. Recently, a study for a carbon sequestration project has gained more information, which will help determine if the area is suitable for holding carbon dioxide in saline aquifers thousands of feet underground.

More than 10 months ago, a team of nine geologists spread across the mountains south of Craig and began gathering data critical to determining if the area would be suitable for an experimental process known as carbon sequestration.

Although those geologists left the area in the middle of the summer, their work is continuing into the winter months as part of the three-year project, which has recently been spurred by new information and plans to gather more geological readings, said Vince Matthews, director of the Colorado Geological Survey.

Carbon sequestration is the process by which carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other sources are captured and injected into the ground.

The three-year research project is being done to see if sandstone reservoir rock formations thousands of feet underground can hold captured carbon dioxide, Matthews said.

Read more about the project

PUC approves SOCO transmission project without condition

Published on February 14, 2011 in General, Public Outreach and Transmission. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

A proposal by Tri-State Generation and Transmission and Xcel Energy to build a single transmission project from the San Luis Valley to Pueblo (known as the San Luis Valley – Calumet – Comanche Transmission Project) cleared an important hurdle on February 11, when state regulators determined a need for the line and rejected a condition that threatened Xcel Energy’s backing.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) did not adopt a condition recommended by an administrative law judge last November calling for a refund to ratepayers by Xcel Energy if the line does not carry 700 megawatts of new generation 10 years after completion.  Instead, the Commission gave the green light to a 150-mile, $180 million transmission line designed to bolster reliability and carry solar and wind energy from the San Luis Valley over La Veta Pass to the Front Range.

“It’s hard to vote against what some call consumer protection, but this isn’t consumer protection,” PUC chairman Ron Binz said. “It’s a backstop for a regulatory agency that’s unsure what it’s doing.”

The transmission project was proposed jointly by Tri-State and Xcel as a way to shore up the reliability of the valley’s aging power delivery infrastructure to the state’s ever-increasing population, and as a means to meet renewable energy state mandates through the export of wind and solar energy from Southern Colorado.

Local communities benefit from Tri-State’s property taxes

Published on February 4, 2011 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Tri-State paid a total of $28 million in 2010 property taxes in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska and Arizona, where the G&T operates numerous electric generation and transmission facilities. In each of the five states, Tri State owns, wholly or in part, various generating stations and transmission lines – which account for the largest portion of taxes paid — as well as other facilities such as substations, microwave towers and telecommunications equipment.

Rural communities rely heavily on property taxes to provide essential services, including public school and local government operations. Tri-State’s property tax payments provide a stable source of revenue that helps fund rural school districts, counties, towns and special districts ranging from libraries to water districts, ensuring local residents have access to vital services.

The state by state breakdown looked like this:

  • Colorado — $15.2 million
  • New Mexico — $4.0 million
  • Wyoming — $1.5 million
  • Arizona — $7.1 million
  • Nebraska — $255,000

System maintenance can’t wait for a sunny day

Published on February 2, 2011 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Scott Potter directs the deployment of one of Tri-State’s snow cats at the base of the Mines Peak site.

When it comes to keeping the lights on for its members and the data flowing within Tri-State’s vast, four-state telecommunications network, the association’s field maintenance personnel are well-equipped to handle Mother Nature on even her cruelest days of winter. 

When telecommunications technicians face serious winter weather, they rely on their winter survival training and Tri-State’s fleet of five snow cats to traverse some of the association’s remote, high altitude telecommunications sites.  In this instance (shown in photo), it was a Jan. 3 trek to the Mines Peak site, perched at a lofty 12,468-foot elevation, overlooking the summit of Berthoud Pass, near Winter Park, Colo. 

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