Tri-State member co-op Delta-Montrose Electric Association (Montrose, Colo.) is teaming up with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association to develop a local hydroelectric project. The two organizations plan to use the water coming through the Gunnison Tunnel, which currently irrigates the surrounding towns and will soon create electricity.
Following one of the biggest disasters involving nuclear energy in the world at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, two representatives of Japanese power utilities traveled to Montrose, Colo., recently to learn more about Tri-State member co-op Delta-Montrose Electric Association’s Community Solar Array program.
DMEA spokesman Tom Polikalas said the Japanese utilities are looking for ways to accelerate the rate at which they are integrating more renewable energy resources into their nation’s power grid.
During the next several months, two renewable projects in Colorado and New Mexico are scheduled to begin producing more than four megawatts of capacity combined for Tri-State members Poudre Valley REA (Fort Collins, Colo.) and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (Taos, N.M.).
A new 2.6-megawatt hydro plant at Carter Lake will begin producing power this summer for Poudre Valley REA.
The largest of the two facilities is the Carter Lake Hydroelectric Project, now under construction adjacent to the 112,000-acre-foot lake of the same name in northern Colorado.
Slated for commercial operation this summer, the new hydro plant will feature two horizontal Francis turbines capable of generating a maximum output of 2,600 kilowatts (2.6 megawatts) and is expected to generate approximately 7,000 megawatt-hours annually.
The Carter Lake hydro plant will be owned and operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Poudre Valley REA will purchase the output of the plant under a power purchase agreement with the water district and Tri-State is providing support and financial incentives of both member projects under its board policies 115 and 117.
Continue reading ‘Members’ renewable projects to add a combined 4 megawatts’
Tri-State’s Westminster-based employees, directors and other membership guests who are at the association’s headquarters to attend the G&T’s 60th annual meeting this week (April 4-5) are invited to visit what General Electric is calling the “largest trade show on wheels,” featuring the latest innovations in state-of-the-art commercial, industrial and residential lighting products.
GE Lighting is bringing its lighting "trade show on wheels" to Tri-State headquarters on Wednesday.
The 53-foot long semi-trailer will be set up in the Westminster employee parking lot from 7 a.m. through 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4. This massive mobile lighting display’s Tri-State stop is part of a nearly 17,000-mile tour of 57 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
The goal for the company’s “2012 GE Lighting Revolution Tour” is to spread its message of the new technologies and many energy efficient lighting products that are emerging in the marketplace to a wide audience of people associated with energy and the lighting industry.
Tri-State will be one of five stops that the GE lighting team has scheduled in the Denver area. GE’s lighting technology road show kicked off in late February in Miami, Fla., and will conclude on Sept. 20 in Hendersonville, N.C.
Denver area-based employees may want to check out the Denver Auto Show, running through this weekend at the Colorado Convention Center, where a Keep Electricity Affordable (KEA) booth is set up and fully staffed to engage and educate visitors about the potential threats to affordable electricity. Visitors to the booth also can get a look at Tri-State’s latest addition to its hybrid and plug-in electric vehicle fleet – the Chevy Volt.
KEA is an alliance of citizens and organizations in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming that believes affordable electric power is an indispensable resource and is essential to families, businesses, communities and the economy.
Tri-State's new Chevy Volt is on display at the Keep Electricity Affordable booth set up at this week's Denver Auto Show.
Sponsors of this initiative include Tri-State, its 44 member systems and the rural electric statewide associations in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. This weekend at the show, the KEA team is encouraging visitors to sign up in support of the initiative’s efforts to raise awareness of threats to affordable electricity.
The Denver Auto Show is the region’s premier showcase of the newest model year import and domestic vehicles — including cars, vans, crossovers, hybrids, light trucks and SUVs. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids (ages 6-12) and children under 6 are admitted free of charge. Car show hours are noon to 10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The association’s board of directors approved Policy 115 generation contracts between Tri-State and two of its member systems for a total of three renewable projects at the March board meeting held earlier this week (March 13-14) in Westminster.
Both Poudre Valley REA and San Miguel Power are adding community solar projects to their porfolios this summer.
At Poudre Valley REA (Fort Collins, Colo.), the co-op recently announced the development of a 100-kilowatt solar garden by Clean Energy Collective, LLC, to be constructed this summer adjacent to the co-op’s headquarters building in Fort Collins. Under the terms of the agreement, Clean Energy Collective will own and operate the solar site and sell the output to Poudre Valley. The co-op, in turn, will provide its member-consumers with the opportunity to purchase solar panels to offset their electric use.
Within the service territory of San Miguel Power Association (Nucla, Colo.), a larger scale – one megawatt – community solar project, in which its members will be invited to subscribe, is also being developed this summer by the aforementioned Clean Energy Collective. The solar facility will be constructed in the Paradox Valley, west of Nucla.
Also, being added to San Miguel’s renewable portfolio is the 500-kilowatt output of one of the nation’s oldest hydroelectric facilities. Constructed in the late 1800s, the owners of Bridal Veil Hydro Project near Telluride, Colo., have inked a power purchase agreement with the Nucla-based co-op that is scheduled to begin by the end of this month and extend through the end of 2026.
Tri-State has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to buy the electricity from the state’s newest planned renewable energy resource, the 67-megawatt Colorado Highlands Wind project. The facility will be built on a 5,200-acre site in northeast Colorado’s Logan County, within the service territory of Tri-State member co-op Highline Electric Association, and is scheduled to be operational by the end of the year.
The project will use GE wind turbine generators and will be developed by Colorado Highlands Wind, LLC, which is jointly owned by Alliance Power, Inc. of Littleton, Colo., and GE Energy Financial Services of Stamford, Conn. Financial terms of the contract are being held confidential and were not disclosed.
“Increasing the amount of renewable resources in our energy mix further diversifies our overall generation portfolio,” said Tri-State executive vice president and general manager Ken Anderson. “It not only attracts investment to the communities our member co-ops serve, but it also keeps us on schedule in assisting our members to meet their obligations under state renewable portfolio standards,” he said.
“Highline Electric is pleased to be in position to provide service to Colorado Highlands Wind and we’re looking forward to working with them during the construction process,” said Mark Farnsworth, manager of the local electric co-op. “We also appreciate the economic development opportunities that the project provides in our service territory.”
The agreement culminates a process begun in October 2011 when Tri-State issued a request for proposals for renewable energy supply, which resulted in nearly 50 responses consisting of a variety of technologies and potential locations.
Colorado Highlands Wind will be the third utility-scale renewable energy facility from which Tri-State receives all of the electrical output and renewable energy credits. In 2010 the wholesale power supplier began purchasing the electricity generated at the 51-megawatt Kit Carson Windpower Project in eastern Colorado as well as the 30-megawatt Cimarron Solar Facility in northeastern New Mexico.
In early February Empire Electric added the 72-kilowatt Red Wagon solar project to its renewable portfolio.
A new small solar plant recently began generating enough electricity to meet the power requirements of about 30 homes on the lines of Tri-State member co-op Empire Electric Association (Cortez, Colo.). The 72-kilowatt Red Wagon Energy project was constructed on a 1-acre site, within the town limits of Mancos, Colo., with the support of Tri-State board policies 115 and 117 for a 10-year contract term.
This new distributed generation facility is owned and operated by Red Wagon Energy. Its estimated annual output of 138,000 kilowatt-hours is being sold to Empire Electric through a power purchase agreement and is fed directly onto the local power grid.
“The power from this solar plant won’t go to any specific homes and it won’t alter anyone’s electric bill,” explained Doug Sparks, Empire’s member services manager. “However, this break-the-mold project introduces a shift, allowing a small renewable power plant to provide power to the grid, bolstering Empire’s capacity and renewable energy portfolio,” he added.
The Red Wagon project is the third renewable project that Empire has contracted with Tri-State under the G&T’s board policy 115/117 agreements. The southwest Colorado co-op also receives 20 kilowatts of output from a small community solar garden in which its consumers can subscribe for small blocks of renewable power, and it has a power purchase agreement for a 240-kilowatt hydroelectric plant located at a water treatment facility in Cortez.
The Taos (N.M.) Eco-Park is earning its name. Tri-State member Kit Carson Electric Cooperative celebrated the completion of a 60-kilowatt solar canopy installed in the parking lot at the sports facility with a ribbon cutting ceremony earlier this month. The array was designed to generate enough electricity to power stadium lights for three fields at the Eco-Park. The town has completed the first field, with other phases pending.
In a rare show of unity, all nine members of Colorado’s congressional delegation submitted a joint letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson recently, urging her approval of a state plan regarding the reduction of regional haze.
In 2011, the State Implementation Plan (SIP) to reduce regional haze in existing Class I areas in Colorado was approved by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and submitted to the EPA by Governor John Hickenlooper.
The SIP is intended to meet the requirements of the EPA’s Regional Haze Rule and the Clean Air Act. Under the rule, states are required to set periodic goals for improving visibility in 156 federal Class I areas, 12 of which are in Colorado, and include certain national parks and wilderness areas.
As they work to reach these goals, states must develop implementation plans that contain enforceable measures and strategies for reducing visibility-impairing pollution.
As required by the Clean Air Act, all states must submit SIP revisions to the EPA for approval. If the EPA finds that a state has failed to make a required SIP submittal or if the agency disapproves the submittal, the EPA must issue a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) within two years to fill the regulatory gap.
For Tri-State and other utilities, a FIP carries the potential of significantly higher costs as compared to the proposed SIP.
In developing the SIP, Colorado followed an “exemplary and inclusive stakeholder approach” resulting in bipartisan support that “. . . speaks to its balanced and thoughtful approach to reducing harmful pollution,” according to the letter.
Paul Griffin, Tri-State senior federal government relations advisor, played a large role in acquiring the support from Colorado’s two senators and seven representatives.
“It’s very unusual to have such broad, bipartisan support on an issue, especially environmental,” said Griffin. “It just reinforces the fact that this is a state process and Colorado doesn’t need federal intervention.”
Additional endorsements of the SIP include a number of conservation organizations and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Under a consent decree, the EPA is required to make a decision regarding Colorado’s SIP by March 2012.
