Poudre Valley REA CEO Jeff Wadsworth was named Fortnightly Foremost Innovator in Microgrids for 2020. The recognition was awarded by Public Unity Fortnightly, a utility organization that supports innovation. The yearly Fortnightly Top Innovators awards select the most outstanding individuals in 10 categories of innovation. Wadsworth was honored for PVREA’s work installing a microgrid for […]
Holy Cross Energy in Glenwood Springs announced a new, ambitious 100X30 goal to provide 100% carbon-free electricity to its consumer-members by 2030. The announcement was made in a press conference December 14 with Gov. Jared Polis offering his congratulations to the co-op. The 100X30 plan follows the co-op’s Seventy70Thirty plan announced in 2018 in which […]
By Mona Neeley, CCL Editor Being part of a large network is never more important than when a natural disaster hits an electric cooperative. Take, for example, when the monstrous and destructive East Troublesome Fire swept through Grand County and Mountain Parks Electric’s service territory in October. The 60 employees of the area’s local electric […]
Families are still facing the challenges of remote learning, but the town of Mancos is helping to reduce some of the burden for people who don’t have reliable internet access. It was found that 20% of families in the Mancos school district were without reliable internet access at home. So the town of Mancos teamed […]
This fall, Pueblo West-based electric cooperative San Isabel Electric rolled out its Empower program. This expansion of its energy-efficiency programs helps people create an energy-efficient home or business space with free energy assessments, net-metered home solar power systems, electric vehicle and charger rebates for consumer-members and products such as high-velocity, low-speed fans, electric water heaters, […]
In late October, Steamboat Springs-based Yampa Valley Electric announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will award $6 million to YVEA and its fiber subsidiary, Luminate Broadband, to expand fiber internet service in northwestern Colorado. The USDA will provide funding to YVEA/Luminate through its ReConnect program to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network. This will connect 264 […]
By Amy Higgins Colorado’s electric cooperatives have a reputation of staying on top of innovation and energy efficiency, and while heat pumps aren’t new to the beneficial electricity market, their advancements are. Cold-climate, air source heat pump (ccASHP) is one of the latest innovations in beneficial electrification. These products can reduce air pollution and energy […]
As part of an ongoing discussion about electric vehicles with its member distribution cooperatives, Tri-State Generation and Transmission created the EV Experience, an innovative electric vehicle allowing co-op consumer-members to try out EVs. Access to electric vehicles can be limited in the rural areas that Colorado’s distribution cooperatives serve; consumer-members can’t easily go to an […]
An innovative and state-of-the-art cybersecurity tool being developed by the electric cooperatives was given a boost with $6 million in funding from the United States Department of Energy. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is leading the development of the tool, known as Essence. After initially receiving funds to create Essence in 2014, the national […]
Growing crops indoors is the focus of an innovative collaboration between electric power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the national Electric Power Research Institute and Moffat County School District in Craig. The program offers students and faculty an opportunity to grow various crops indoors and year-round with EPRI’s “Farm in a Box.” This cutting-edge indoor […]