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 […]
CREA has sponsored several webinars on key co-op issues and on innovative topics this fall. For those who were not able to participate and/or miss the annual CREA Energy Innovations Summit, you can view the recorded webinars On the CREA website. A recording and the PowerPoint slides are available here. Here’s what you’ll find: Ground […]
By Kylee Coleman Just as rural Colorado started to regain footing from the stressful economic and emotional impacts of COVID-19 shutdowns, wildfire season erupted with force across the central and western parts of the state in late July. Electric co-op communities such as Glenwood Springs and rural areas of Mesa and Garfield counties, Grand County […]
Fort Collins-based Poudre Valley REA is working with the community of Red Feather Lakes to create a microgrid. The small community in northern Colorado gets its electricity delivered by a single transmission line, which is vulnerable to wildfires such as the Cameron Peak Fire currently threatening the area. It is also vulnerable to high winds, […]
Holy Cross Energy was nationally recognized and named the Electric Cooperative of the Year by the Smart Electric Power Alliance. The Electric Cooperative Utility of the Year Award is given to an electric co-op that demonstrates leadership through innovation to significantly advance clean energy and grid modernization. In 2018, Holy Cross Energy adopted the Seventy70Thirty […]
In its continual effort to “Green the Grid,” Gunnison County Electric Association announced a second community solar garden, located on the roof at the co-op’s headquarters in Gunnison. The electric co-op will lease solar panels on a month-to-month basis or consumer-members can participate in a 20-year lease agreement. There are already 195 panels leased, with […]