Drones Now Help Co-op Serve Consumer-Members

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Buena Vista-based Colorado electric cooperative, SDCEA, was recently featured in a National Rural Electric Cooperative Association podcast that discussed the use of drones in the electric utility industry.

NRECA research and survey data shows that over 300 electric co-ops in the U.S. use drones on their system. And with its rugged territory and sometimes difficult-to-access equipment locations, SDCEA is a prime example of how this rapidly changing UAS technology can assist in ways previously never thought possible.

Bill Hovanec, GIS lead at SDCEA, stated in the interview that the drone program has been helping the co-op for 18 months. He said it’s a cost-effective way to get a lot of data that would otherwise be unavailable. Co-ops are typically smaller organizations with smaller budgets, but over the years, drone costs have gone down in price, and insurance, regulations and training expenses are also decreasing, making a robust drone program more accessible.

“Most rural co-ops can afford a couple drones to test and they bring back positive results,” Bill said. At SDCEA, the drone data collected comes directly back to GIS; operations and line crews can pull up the pictures of what they see and get what they need before they even go out to make repairs or work on maintenance.

Bill appreciates the functionality with drones and uses in GIS every day. The more Bill learns about UAS technology and capabilities, the more he sees how major weather events and natural disasters can benefit from drone data. Events such as wildfires and snowstorms the service area is prone to may limit access to equipment, but drones give an “eyeball on it.” An important part of SDCEA’s overall maintenance plan to improve reliability and safety is wildfire mitigation. Bill stated in the interview that drones help with data collection for trouble spots on the system.

Mission and flight planning, as well as analyzing and processing the data is the most time consuming for any electric cooperative drone program. The actual flight may take an hour, but flight planning and data processing is more important and can take about twice as much time.

Bill hasn’t had too many bad experiences when he or his pilot crew is flying the co-op’s drone. Some consumer-members get frustrated and question privacy, but he said most people are more interested than upset. SDCEA knocks on doors prior to a flight to let consumer-members in the flight path know what the co-op is doing beforehand. And just like line crews, the drone team maintains safety practices and gets the aircraft on the ground before they answer any questions.

SDCEA’s program currently has three pilots and one drone and the co-op is hoping to expand its drone inspection program.

Capturing Carbon

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By Katherine Loving

Providing reliable, affordable electricity is the top priority for Colorado’s electric cooperatives. Co-ops and other electric utilities continue to incorporate additional energy generated from renewable sources, but until these technologies fully mature, fossil fuels remain a part of our overall generation mix to ensure power reliability.

As the U.S. moves forward with carbon reduction goals, electric cooperatives are also looking for ways to provide clean energy and offset the carbon that’s generated during power production. Capturing carbon emissions at their creation source is one of those approaches.

The federal government is making carbon capture a funding priority in 2022. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021 provides $927 million for large, commercial-scale pilot projects as well as $3.5 billion for six demonstration projects at coal and natural gas plants.

Carbon capture involves a series of steps to remove carbon dioxide from its original source to prevent it from reaching the Earth’s atmosphere. During the capture step, CO2 is removed either before or after combustion.

Post-combustion capture is the most common method used at existing power plants. After electricity is generated, the CO2 is removed from the gas mixture found in a plant’s flue.

In pre-combustion capture, the fuel sources are heated with pure oxygen (or steam and oxygen) to release CO2.

Once captured, the CO2 is transported to its next destination. Typically, CO2 moves as compressed gas in pipelines but can also be transported by tanker trucks or ships.

Captured CO2 can be injected into geological formations or recycled for other uses.

One appeal of carbon capture is the abundance of underground natural storage locations, such as deep aquifers, porous rock and unproductive coal mines. The U.S. Geological Service estimates the U.S. has the potential to store 3,000 metric gigatons of CO2, the equivalent of centuries worth of emissions.

Research on how to recycle CO2 is ongoing, but established practices include using the gas in enhanced oil recovery, growing fish food from lab-grown bacteria that feed on CO2 and creating carbon-negative concrete or other carbon-based materials.

As promising as carbon capture sounds, the costs and risks limit the technology’s ability to be implemented on a larger scale. Post-combustion capture often requires expensive retrofitting of power plants. Pre-combustion capture, while more effective than post-combustion, has been limited due to high costs of equipment and pure oxygen.

In addition to these costs, the processes require a large amount of energy. Transportation of the gas increases in cost for longer distances between the source and destination, making plants located far away from sequestration locations less feasible. Sequestration also carries the concern of CO2 leaks, which would negate the effort to remove it from the atmosphere.

Despite these hurdles, carbon capture is seen as an important technology in reducing emissions.

In 2015, XPRIZE, a technological development competition, kicked off with the goal of awarding $20 million to develop new and emerging technologies that utilize CO2. The competition was based on how much CO2 was converted and the economic feasibility of the project.

XPRIZE concluded in 2021, and the winning project was a carbon-negative concrete created by a team of UCLA researchers called CarbonBuilt. The research team conducted tests at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Integrated Test Center in Wyoming to turn flue gases and fly ash into carbon-negative concrete. The process reduces the carbon emissions of concrete production and traps additional carbon long-term within the final product.

There will be more emphasis from the federal government in 2022 on carbon capture and storage. In addition to the demonstration projects from the infrastructure bill, the Slowing CO2 and Lowering Emissions (SCALE) Act was introduced in 2021 to provide funding to overcome expansion barriers. The SCALE Act aims to reduce costs by financing scaling projects for pipeline infrastructure, creating regional storage infrastructure, and providing grants for creating products derived from large-scale capture.

Capturing carbon is an important tool in reducing CO2 emissions generated from fossil fuel use. When this emerging technology can be deployed on a larger scale, the future of carbon capture will look much more promising.

Katherine Loving writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

 

United Power Installs New EV Charger

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Bridging a 30-mile gap between electric vehicle DC fast-charge stations along I-25, United Power recently installed a new public charging station.

The new ChargePoint station is conveniently located along the northern corridor of I-25 between Thornton and Loveland.

Located at its Carbon Valley service center, this is the third public EV charger installed by the Brighton-based electric co-op. The co-op’s other two stations are located at its Coal Creek office in Golden and a gas station in Keenesburg. United Power’s strategic EV charging locations are helping make EVs more practical for Coloradans and more accessible for people living in rural communities.

Highline Electric Offers App for Members

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Holyoke-based electric cooperative Highline Electric Association released its redesigned app this month. Available for download on Google Play and the App store, the co-op provides this app so that its consumer-members have easy access to their utility account.

This is the second iteration of an app HEA has developed, and some new features are included.
Consumer-members can make payments through the app, get notifications from the co-op, view an outage map and report an outage, view past and current billing statements, look at usage history and contact the co-op directly from the app. “Overall, this version is more modern, easier to use and navigate,” HEA Member Services Specialist Jessie Heath said.

This is an innovative way for Highline’s consumer-members to keep up with their electric cooperative.

Electric Cooperatives Prioritize Grid Security

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Maintaining and enhancing security of the electric grid is a priority for electric cooperatives — and Colorado’s electric cooperatives are part of a larger network helping to make this happen.

Nationwide, electric co-ops partner with each other and government entities to provide cybersecurity training, secure resiliency, and develop technology to improve grid safety and efficiency.

As reported previously by CREA, tools like Essence 2.0 have been developed by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The national association still has frequent interaction with the Department of Energy to work on innovative technologies, tools and resources that modernize co-op systems and maintain grid resilience.

Three Interesting Facts About Electricity

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Electricity turns dark into light, makes hot foods cold and cold foods hot, washes the dishes and searches the internet. It is essential to our everyday lives, so much so that we rarely think about it. But behind the scenes, interesting things are happening.

Here are three interesting facts about electricity that cause even some experts to scratch and shake their heads.

1. Electricity must be used or stored after it’s generated.

A rechargeable battery stores electricity — more on that later. But the kind of electricity you use in your home needs to be used after it’s generated.

It’s true. Electricity produced from power plants, solar panels, wind turbines and hydro dams in the U.S. needs to be perfectly timed for when you decide to cook dinner, wash clothes or watch TV. The national grid, made up of power generators, wires and substations, is an incredibly complex network that makes electricity flow smoothly.

A vast and intricate system of devices controls that power flow in a precisely balanced way so that when you flip a switch calling for additional electricity, somewhere else a power source ramps up to provide the additional electricity you require.

It’s one reason utility operators must be strategic when adding renewable energy to the nation’s fuel mix — a coal or natural gas plant can ramp generation up or down fairly quickly to meet changing energy demand. Solar energy and wind power depend more on the whims of Mother Nature, which adds an extra challenge to power management. However, technology advances are making this challenge easier to deal with and more large-scale battery storage is also helping.

Big batteries offer another way for electric utilities to better balance the flow and timing of electricity and large-scale battery storage technology is improving rapidly. A few of Colorado’s electric cooperatives have incorporated battery storage into their distribution systems and more storage is being planned. Wider use of large utility-scale batteries will make it much easier to add more solar and wind energy to the grid, allowing electric co-ops and others to store energy that’s generated when it’s breezy and sunny for use at night and during calm weather.

2. Power out? Blame a squirrel.

While severe weather causes most outages, if it’s nice out and your electricity goes off, it could be caused by a squirrel.

We all know to play it safe around electricity, but squirrels don’t. They scamper and chew around transformers, substations and utility poles where they can disrupt high-voltage equipment, shutting down power for you and your neighbors.

We all know to play it safe around electricity, but squirrels don’t. They scamper and chew around transformers, substations and utility poles where they can disrupt high-voltage equipment, shutting down power for you and your neighbors.

But it’s not just squirrels. Snakes, birds and other critters can find their way into dangerous places. There’s no official record-keeping of wildlife-caused power outages, but estimates run as high as 20%.

Electric utilities are constantly devising new ways to keep wildlife away from dangerous electrical equipment—the resulting power disruptions are inconvenient for us energy consumers, and almost always fatal for the animal.

3. Highways could charge electric vehicles in the future.

If researchers have their way, electric vehicles wouldn’t need to plug in — they could charge while they’re being driven.

“Wireless dynamic charging” projects are underway around the world. The idea is similar to wireless chargers you can buy for your home electronics, the kind you can set near a charger rather than actually plugging in the smartphone or other device.

Wireless dynamic charging projects are underway around the world. Photo from Pixabay contributor Leon Wallis. *Image edited in Canva to show dynamic charging lane.

Charging cars while they’re driving along the freeway is of course a lot more ambitious. But some developers predict that within five years, in addition to today’s special high-occupancy-vehicle lanes for rush-hour traffic in large cities, there could be stretches of vehicle-charging lanes.

Futurists expect electric trucks as the most likely users of wireless charging lanes. Most electric cars, after all, can charge overnight in a residential garage. Wireless dynamic truck charging could keep the deliveries rolling rather than having drivers sitting and drinking coffee for the several hours it could take a conventional plug-in to get trucks back to full power.

Electricity is such a basic part of our everyday life, so it’s easy to forget about it. But every now and then it’s good to think about all its benefits and mysteries. That awareness can help make sure we pay attention to safety precautions, but sometimes it’s good just to be amazed.

Paul Wesslund writes for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association for the nation’s electric cooperatives.

Cooperative Program Enhances Local Small Businesses

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In an innovative approach to enhancing its rural small business community and economy, Pueblo West-based San Isabel Electric offers a unique program.

The electric co-op distributes pass-through loans with 0% financing for qualifying projects to local businesses, nonprofits and public entities. This is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program.

Here’s how it works: The USDA provides the loan to San Isabel Electric, which then passes the loan through to local businesses in its service territory. The local business or nonprofit is responsible to repay the loan to SIEA, and the cooperative is then responsible for repayment to the USDA. San Isabel Electric may lend up to $1.5 million in total loans, and up to $300,000 in revolving loans.

The most recent recipient of a pass-through loan from SIEA is My One Hour Office, a coworking space in Walsenburg. Owner Mary Jo Tesitor said in a recent press release, “With a manageable low-or-no interest loan of less than $20,000, a small rural business can complete upgrades and improvements that may have been sitting on the back burner for a while.”

Tesitor believes the revolving loan program for small businesses can make a real difference for rural Colorado. And “is a great use of USDA funds. Small business owners will pay back into the fund, recirculating that money and growing the economy,” Tesitor said. She plans to use the REDL&G program funds to purchase virtual video conferencing equipment, a Wi-Fi management system and office furniture.

A previous REDL&G loan was issued to the La Veta Fire Protection District to support construction of its new fire station. San Isabel Electric is continually working with local rural businesses, nonprofits and public entities to process REDL&G applications. The co-op is also actively seeking a nonprofit or public body partner in the service territory to establish a revolving loan fund. An RLF would allow San Isabel Electric to issue these types of loans more quickly, without having to wait for USDA approval.

“To set up a revolving loan fund, we must issue a large loan to a nonprofit or public body entity, like a hospital, or local government organization. As they pay it back to us, we bank it, and then re-lend it. We can keep it going as long as we wish, as long as we’re following the USDA’s rules,” Laura Getts, San Isabel Electric’s business development manager said.

This is just one example of how a Colorado electric cooperative enhances community resilience through innovative programs.

Electric School Buses Get a Push

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The move to electrify school buses across the country got a new push when The Beneficial Electrification League announced an initiative to accelerate the deployment of these buses in electric cooperative service territories.

BEL launched this coalition effort in advance of federal funds targeted to electric school buses in the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs act passed by Congress in 2021.

“Colorado’s rural electric cooperatives are excited to partner with schools to bring the benefits of electric school buses to communities all across the state,” said Kent Singer, CREA executive director. “We believe these buses can bring a lot of benefits to students, the school systems and the electric cooperative community.”

In Colorado, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, CREA and three local electric co-ops are participating in the BEL initiative. Colorado also has two electric school buses deployed with the assistance of local electric co-ops with a third soon to be added.

To learn more, visit be-league.org/buses.

Driving EVs in Winter Weather

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The woes (and whoas!) of driving electric in cold temperatures
By Amy Higgins

Weather conditions in Colorado are diverse and, depending on where you hang your hat at the end of the day, you could be dealing with intermittent ice and snow when getting around town or perhaps hazardous conditions are often part of your everyday life all winter.

Whether gas-powered, electric or a combination of the two, cold weather affects your vehicle’s performance, according to fueleconomy.gov. This official U.S. government source for fuel economy information reports that the fuel economy for gas-powered vehicles can drop as much as 24% in cold temperatures; up to 34% for hybrids; and 39% for electric vehicles.

A GCEA consumer-member drives to the slopes with the co-op’s Chevy Bolt.

Gunnison County Electric Association, with offices in Gunnison and Crested Butte, is in an area of Colorado where temperatures can reach below negative 20 degrees. The electric co-op has a Chevy Bolt and a Tesla Model 3 in its fleet of EVs and tested the vehicles at subzero temperatures.

“We noticed that when you have subzero temperatures, the battery loses up to 37% efficiency compared to the warmer temperatures,” says GCEA Member Relations Supervisor Alliy Sahagun.

These tests, Sahagun says, have helped educate GCEA consumer-members about what they can expect with an EV. For example, road trips could be arduous if EV owners are not mindful of this expected decrease in productivity, the weather conditions and their vehicle’s current charge status.

On the flip side, EVs perform well, if not very well on shorter trips. This is the third winter Chris Michalowski’s family has owned its Chevy Bolt — his wife’s preferred vehicle when driving around town during the week. A single charge provides more than 200 miles of range, so on short trips, she doesn’t have to charge again until later that evening during their electric co-op’s off-peak hours. Now outfitted with snow tires and ski racks, the Bolt is their go-to when heading to the ski resort. “It’s small so it can sneak into tight parking spaces at the ski resort, and you don’t have to wait for it to warm up,” says the Granby-based Mountain Parks Electric power use advisor. “I have a pickup truck as well, but I’d much rather take our EV to the ski resort.”

Sahagun says she frequently gets questions about how GCEA’s Bolt and Tesla handle in the snow and on ice. She says they perform “really well.” Because of the battery’s weight, EVs have a low center of gravity which helps the vehicle hug the road, preventing it from sliding. However, this low center of gravity doesn’t provide a lot of clearance, which can be precarious around higher snowdrifts and unplowed roads.

“If the roads are plowed, I’ve not had any problems with them — they do great,” Sahagun says. A GCEA member shared with her an experience when his truck became stuck in the snow: “He hitched his pickup truck to his Tesla Model S and he pulled it out of the snow, so they’re pretty strong, pretty powerful.

One clear advantage of an EV when compared to a gas-powered vehicle is its ability to provide heat almost instantaneously. “I tell people it’s like a hair dryer. Boom. The warm air starts coming out,” Michalowski explains. “For those short trips to the grocery store in the winter, by the time you get there and back, the car is finally starting to warm up [in a gas-powered vehicle]. It’s not the case with electric vehicles because the heating system is electric. It’s pretty much warm air right from the get-go.”

Although there is a decrease in range during winter temperatures, EVs are highly efficient when navigating around town or driving to and from work. And the amount of “fuel” remaining in your EV isn’t as important at the end of the day as with a gas-powered vehicle. “If you go home with 40 miles of range left or 100 miles of range, it’s all the same,” Michalowski explains. “It’s kind of like your cellphone — you don’t really care what the battery life is like as long as it works and you’re able to plug it in and it charges again.”

Analyze before you finalize
The catchphrase “range anxiety” — the fear of being stranded without a charge when needed — still has some potential EV buyers reeling, but this concern is swiftly dwindling. President Joseph Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposes a national network of 500,000 charging stations by 2030, up from the Department of Energy’s current count of around 50,000.

EVs come with a 120-volt, Level 1 charger, which can be plugged into any outlet, but they can take 16 hours or more to fully charge. Upgrade to a Level 2 charger, set it to charge when you go to bed (yes, you can program your charger), and wake up to a full charge the next day. And fast chargers — 34 Colorado locations and growing — can boost your battery 80% in 30 minutes.

“When I bought my Bolt, there wasn’t a single fast charger in the county and here we are two years later and now there are four fast chargers in all four corners of the county,” Michalowski says. “It seems all the time new public chargers are getting installed. It just gets better and better as far as what’s available.”

Watch for Ride and Drive events hosted by your local electric co-op, like this one sponsored by MPE.

Educate yourself about EVs and take a test drive or keep an eye out for EV Ride and Drive events in your area. “From our own experience, just getting people behind the wheel is a huge game changer,” Michalowski says about MPE’s Ride and Drive events.

Consider your budget, your lifestyle and your daily commute to and from work, the grocery store or anywhere else you visit routinely. Not thrilled about the selection? The soon-to-be-released electric Ford F-150 as well as new all-wheel-drive options may sway you to make the switch. In the end, whether or not to drive an EV is a matter of preference.

Amy Higgins is a freelance writer for Colorado Country Life. For a decade she has been reporting on energy-related issues for Colorado’s electric cooperatives.

New EV Chargers Hit Winter Park Resort

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Winter Park Resort is sporting 14 new EV chargers, thanks to Granby-based Mountain Parks Electric and its power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission.

According to a January press release, Tri-State provided project funding to support and expand EV use in the region and MPE facilitated project planning and coordination. At the resort, Village Parking Garage now has six chargers and the outdoor B Lot has eight. Representatives from the co-op and Tri-State presented Winter Park Resort with a check at a January 11 ribbon cutting event.

MPE General Manager Mark Johnston said, “Since the ski resort chargers were energized a couple of weeks ago, skiers have been plugging in.” And the co-op expects usage to increase over time as consumers get more access to EVs and as charging infrastructure continues to grow and develop in mountain communities.