Co-op Solar Projects Start and Succeed with SUNDA Project

By Derrill Holly and Amy Higgins

Electric cooperatives are committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable energy to their consumer-members, and in many parts of the country that includes increasing the availability of solar power.

“Co-ops are big supporters of an ‘all sources’ national energy policy,” said Debra Roepke of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s business and technology strategies group. “Our challenge is finding ways to get sustainable value out of investments that not only help meet the needs of co-op members today, but also control their costs in the future.”

Roepke spent more than four years as NRECA’s liaison and co-project manager of the Solar Utility Network Deployment Acceleration (SUNDA) project, an initiative launched by NRECA with partial funding from a Department of Energy Sunshot Initiative grant. In that role, she worked with generation and transmission cooperatives, electric cooperatives and other organizations involved in planning, developing and assessing the value of various approaches to solar projects.

Colorado Solar Projects
Between 2013 and 2018, total solar capacity owned or contracted by electric co-ops grew from 94 megawatts to 868 MW. Electric coops host more than two-thirds of all utility-sponsored community solar projects.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission, based in Westminster, has three projects totaling 85 MW of utility-scale solar in place. According to NRECA, Tri-State is the top solar G&T in the nation.

Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, based in Fort Collins, utilizes community solar energy from six sites throughout northern Colorado and owns 2.7 MW.

“We have had a demand for a community solar option since we decided to build our first solar farm in 2012; the farm sold out before it was even built,” said David White, PVREA vice president of member relations. “Members continually requested a solar offering so we constructed a second solar farm that is five times bigger than our first solar farm, which sold out just a few months after construction was complete.

“An important part of our mission is to provide exceptional service to our members and, if meeting their energy needs includes a solar component, we need to be prepared to deliver,” White explained. “SUNDA provided resources at our fingertips that would have taken considerably more time to research on our own.”

SUNDA Provides Research
Solar projects, regardless of size or structure, help to build a knowledge base accessible to all electric co-ops.

PVREA’s first community solar project was Highlands Community Solar, followed by the Willox Community Solar Farm. Both thrived but were Power Purchase Agreement projects, which means the farms are owned and operated by a separate entity that PVREA purchases the energy from.

“With the success of two solar farms under our belt, we decided to build our third solar farm: the Coyote Ridge Community Solar Farm,” White said. With this project, PVREA wanted to take a different approach where the cooperative would own and operate the solar array, eliminating the need for a third party to maintain the farm. However, the co-op did not yet have the experience to do it on its own.

“SUNDA was a great resource for PVREA, providing information on engineering, procurement and construction. We found their financial analysis tool to be instrumental in evaluating options,” White explained.

Materials provided by SUNDA help electric cooperatives with everything they need to know about the process of attaining solar power, from conceptualization to planning and execution, as well as communication with the co-ops’ memberships. White explained that SUNDA’s resources helped cut the amount of time it would have taken otherwise to build Coyote Ridge, which sits at 74 percent subscribed today.

“SUNDA has supported cooperatives across the country,” said Lee Boughey, senior manager of communications at Tri-State. “The sharing of knowledge helps co-ops understand the opportunities with solar and reduce risks, which leads to successful projects”

Declining Costs
Several SUNDA participants contend that declining prices helped move solar from a demonstration or educational technology to a competitive asset within wholesale generation portfolios in many areas of the United States.

Solar products and components are improving, and the manufacturing and vendor base continues to expand. That led to substantial declines in the cost for deployed solar. According to NRECA, the per-watt costs declined from $4.50 for the first research project in 2013 to less than $1.40 per watt in 2018.

“The ultimate economics of solar lends itself to serious consideration as a daytime resource,” said Todd Bartling, vice president of renewables development for the National Renewables Cooperative Organization.

With an average of 300 days of sunshine annually, Colorado electric cooperatives are primed to benefit from this renewable energy resource, given their membership’s support.

“With clear skies and bright sunshine across the West, decreasing costs and federal tax incentives, solar power is an attractive resource for both Tri-State and our members.” Boughey said. “We are able to blend solar power and other renewables with our owned and contracted resources to keep power reliable and costs down for our members.”

“The industry is working to reduce the costs of the underlying equipment, installation and financing,” Bartling said. “Those improvements will help ensure the technology’s commercial viability when or if tax incentives designed to hold down costs are phased out.”

Shared Insights
Thanks to the SUNDA project, all of this information is available to electric co-ops. Shared experiences and open discussion are among the greatest strengths of the electric co-op movement.

Derrill Holly writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Amy Higgins is a freelance writer for Colorado Country Life magazine.

Southern Colorado Co-op Promotes Energy Efficiency

San Isabel Electric Association, based in Pueblo West, partnered with American manufacturer Titan LED to brighten the day — and space — of two businesses in the co-op’s service territory.

First Choice Market in Walsenburg received a $17,955 rebate check after it upgraded more than 450 light fixtures in the store. This not only increased the life span of the lighting up to eight times, but it gives the small business an average of $950 in monthly savings on its electric bill.

Valley Market is also saving money on its monthly electric bill, to the tune of $650. The business is grateful to be able to pass those savings along to its customers. The Colorado City-based market received a $9,675 rebate from SIEA. An additional added benefit is that the market is saving employee’s time and energy by no longer needing to replace expensive, old-fashioned lightbulbs that were frequently burning out.

SIEA points out that energy savings vary depending on building specifications, the scope of the project, overall energy usage and other factors, but it is eager to offer this program to commercial accounts in its territory. For more information on this and other rebate programs the co-op offers, visit siea.com/rebates.

Buena Vista Co-op Moves Forward with Solar Project

Colorado electric co-op Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, Inc., announced that a 36-year site license agreement is in place for a new solar array project. They proceeded with construction and held a ground-breaking ceremony in September. The 2-megawatt solar array will be built on Colorado Department of Corrections property at the Buena Vista Correctional Facility, an innovative partnership that took 13 months of negotiations and considerations.

Once constructed, the array will generate about 5,752 megawatt-hours of energy, which is enough electricity to power about 685 typical homes in the service territory. juwi, Inc., was chosen to construct the solar facility, which continues over the next several months.

SDCEA will purchase all the power generated from the solar facility to supply to its consumers.
Unique positioning in a mountain valley influenced the co-op to choose a sun tracking system to maximize the output of the array. The array will only generate power when the sun is shining, thus reducing the need for solar-generated electricity storage.

As the project proceeds, SDCEA plans to announce the terms for the community solar garden aspect of the project that will benefit members.

Look for more information in future Energy Innovations newsletters from CREA.

Potential Solar Array Considered for Co-op Territory

A proposal for a 30-megawatt solar array situated in Nucla has been submitted to Tri-State Generation and Transmission.

The solar array would be built directly into the Nucla-Maverick Substation in Montrose County in southwestern Colorado. This substation powers three lines across Colorado, including one to Telluride. The array would increase and provide local renewable energy for San Miguel Power Association and to consumers across its service territory.

The Nucla coal plant is slated to be shut down in 2022, and there is hope that this solar project will replace the coal plant energy output to the area. County officials support the project and expect the potential construction and installation to create new jobs for the area.

This proposal is currently being reviewed by Tri-State. CREA will continue to track the progress of and report on this potential project.

Electric Co-op Expands Whole Home LED Giveaway Program

Colorado Springs area electric co-op Mountain View Electric Association, Inc., offers generous rebates for residential lighting, appliances and commercial lighting. And in addition to its rebate programs, MVEA hosts $500 Whole Home LED giveaways for consumers in its service territory. This gives co-op members the opportunity to win LED light bulbs for their entire house, getting a full upgrade to energy efficiency.

Recent winners had 91 energy efficient light bulbs installed in their home by MVEA representatives and they expressed gratitude for the upgrade, knowing that the LEDs will last longer and use less energy. This program brings awareness to MVEA’s community programs, promotes energy efficiency efforts and gets members involved with the co-op.

DOE Study of Modern Electricity

By Paul Wesslund

Today’s energy landscape is dynamic. October is Co-op Month and this year’s theme is “Cooperatives See the Future.” Colorado’s electric co-ops are a diverse group, but our overall focus boils down to our biggest concern: achieving our member-consumer’s energy needs, now and in the years to come.

Coal-fired power plants are closing. Homeowners with rooftop solar panels are selling unused electricity back to their utility. Wind farms are springing up across Colorado’s eastern plains. Fracking and other drilling techniques have cut the cost of natural gas by more than half since 2002, and doubled the amount of electricity generated by natural gas.

What does all this mean for the nation’s network of wires and power plants, otherwise known as the electric grid? The answer lies within a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy, says Pam Silberstein, senior director of power supply for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“It’s incredibly well-written, well-researched, very thorough, very comprehensive,” Silberstein says. “It’s a well-put-together compilation of the state of the grid.”

DOE’s August 2017 Staff Report to the Secretary on Electric Markets and Reliability describes the complex state of the electric grid and goes into great detail on how utility trends might affect the price and availability of electricity. It highlights the importance of retraining coal and nuclear power workers, and the effects that renewable energy has on the stability and reliability of the existing electric utility system.

Better reliability
Another way to describe the report: If someone decided that every high school student should understand how the nation’s system of electric wires and power plants works, this study would make a good textbook.

Silberstein sees the grid study as a report that puts in one place all the changes affecting utilities and what those changes might mean. She says, “We’re asking our utility systems to meet a lot of demands they haven’t been asked to do before.”

The study was a quick-turnaround response to an earlier memo from DOE Secretary Rick Perry to DOE’s chief of staff to “explore critical issues central to protecting the long-term reliability of the electric grid.”

Many things changed for electric utilities over the past 20 years, and this DOE study describes that new landscape with enough detail to satisfy the most hard-core energy nerd:

• About 15 percent of the nation’s power plants have been retired since 2002, mainly coal and nuclear plants. That trend is expected to continue due to low natural gas prices, slower growth in demand for electricity, environmental regulations and more solar and wind power. While new generating capacity from sources including natural gas and renewable energy, has amounted to about three times the plant retirements, that radical change in the energy mix requires new ways of managing the flow of electricity from the power plants where it is made to the homes and businesses where it is used.

• People are demanding better reliability in their electricity, enough that utilities have supplemented their goals of reliability with a newer term, “resilience.” Basically this means getting the lights back on faster after a natural disaster. That has utilities experimenting with things like utility-scale storage batteries and more precise targeting of which customers should get power restored first.

• A lot of states are passing renewable portfolio standards that mandate levels of green energy, creating a patchwork of requirements in the national grid.

• New and growing additions to the electric grid are changing the way it needs to be managed. Those new power sources include rooftop solar panels that sell electricity back to the utility; natural gas plants that require new pipelines; solar and wind farms in remote areas that need to be connected with new transmission lines; and “demand response programs” in which utilities can turn off home water heaters and air conditioners for short periods during times of peak demand.

Recommendations from the study include:
• Updating the pricing arrangements that govern the buying and selling of electricity.
• Improving disaster preparedness.
• Reviewing regulations that limit the growth of power generation, especially for coal, nuclear and hydroelectricity.
• Focusing on workforce development as energy workers face a changing energy marketplace.
• Modernizing the software that manages electricity transmission.
• Coordinating with Canada and Mexico to enhance electric reliability across all of North America.

The study also notes the importance of cybersecurity to the electric grid, but reported that would be addressed in an upcoming joint report from the DOE and the Department of Homeland Security.

Paul Wesslund writes on cooperative issues for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

La Plata Electric Announces Grant Program

In Durango, nonprofit organizations will have the chance to receive a grant to install and benefit from renewable generation.

Local electric co-op, La Plata Electric Association, has money in its Local Renewable Generation Fund to give back to the communities it serves to help non-profit organizations reduce their electric bills. It is LPEA’s hope that these savings will then help direct money into local organizations’ efforts to serve the community. For 2018, LPEA anticipates granting a total of $40,000 in full and partial grants.

Non-profits that are current consumer-members in good standing in LPEA’s service territory are encouraged to apply by November 1, 2018. More information can be found at www.lpea.coop.

CREA’s Energy Innovations Summit Next Month

October 29 will mark the 9th annual Energy Innovations Summit, hosted by the Colorado Rural Electric Association and held at the Denver Downtown Westin hotel.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear more than two dozen experts discuss today’s energy industry. Breakout sessions will explore topics such as blockchains and the power industry; EV fast charging technology; co-op battery storage projects; energy efficiency and demand response; forecasting renewable energy; and alternatives to lithium ion storage technology.

The lunch session will feature Steve Collier with Milsoft Utility Solutions.

Online registration and a detailed event schedule can be found at www.crea.coop.

Colorado Co-op Approves Solar Project

Colorado electric cooperative Highline Electric Association is based in Holyoke and serves consumer-members in northeastern Colorado. Its board of directors recently approved a 1.5-megawatt solar project, to be developed by Denver-based Microgrid Energy.

Construction of the Riverview solar project is expected to begin later this year and go online in mid to late 2019. It will generate approximately 3.8 million kilowatt-hours per year under a 20-year purchased power agreement with Microgrid. The power purchased from the project will enter Highline’s electric distribution system to serve consumers in its service territory.

Highline expects to benefit from guaranteed savings over this 20-year agreement. The co-op is currently evaluating how the Riverview solar project could provide an option for community solar for its members.

The community solar model works well for several other Colorado electric co-ops and provides an opportunity for members to “buy into” and benefit from renewable solar energy with little to no personal financial investment.

Gunnison Co-op to Advance EV Charging

In its ongoing and innovative approach to advance the use of electric vehicles in Colorado, Gunnison County Electric Association will add three new level II (240-volt) electric vehicle charging stations and upgrade an existing station. The Gunnison-based electric cooperative was awarded a Charge Ahead Colorado grant to help with the costs of installation and upgrades in and around the Gunnison and Crested Butte areas it serves. The $36,000 grant covers 80 percent of the costs including hardware, labor and materials to install the stations.

GCEA received Charge Ahead Colorado grants in previous years to assist in building the Crested Butte and Lake City charging stations. These stations are useful for local EV owners and visitors. GCEA is seeing growth in station use, especially in Crested Butte.

The new stations will be located to enable greater use of existing EVs and to encourage new EV use by community members both near and far. Charging time limits will vary by station and “will be enforced to achieve a balance between facilitating participation in nearby activities and maintaining charging station availability,” according to Logann Long, communications specialist at GCEA. Fees charged to drivers at the four charging stations will vary. The project will start in September with completion by year-end.

GCEA is known around the state for its progressive programs in which they loan EVs to members who want to experience an EV. The “Adopt Spark-e” program is especially successful and popular in the area. The co-op is excited to promote clean energy technologies and encourage the use of more electric vehicles in the area.

For more information regarding the existing and new charging stations, visit www.gcea.coop.