Archive for category: Energy Innovations Newsletter

After being suspended for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gunnison County Electric Association’s robust electric vehicle test drive program is up and running again. Exclusively for consumer-members of the co-op, GCEA members can take the co-op’s Chevy Bolt for a week-long test drive. Or they can request a guided test drive around the Gunnison, Crested Butte and Blue Mesa areas in the co-op’s Tesla Model 3. The guided test drive shows members all the features of the vehicle, which are all controlled on the main screen on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Mountain Parks Electric is also the proud new owner of a Tesla Model 3. The Granby-based co-op is still finalizing how and under what conditions it will let consumer-members drive this new addition to its fleet. Under MPE’s Electrify Everything program, the co-op is offering financial assistance and on-bill financing for commercial EV charging stations. EV home charging rebates and wiring rebates are also available for MPE consumer-members.

In an effort to promote beneficial electrification, Colorado electric co-ops in all corners of the state are encouraging consumer-members to make the switch to electric outdoor power equipment. They are doing this by partnering with power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission to offer consumer rebate opportunities on new outdoor equipment.

Mountain View Electric Association, Inc., headquartered in Limon, is holding an outdoor equipment contest for its members to enter: The co-op will give away an electric lawnmower in June and an electric snowblower in October. MVEA states on its website that, while there is an initial investment when making the switch to electric equipment, switching to electric can save consumer-members money over time since the equipment or the equipment battery chargers plug into a wall. Electric lawnmowers, snowblowers and chain saws don’t need to be refueled and the cost of electricity is cheaper than other fuel sources.

Electric outdoor equipment is also better for the environment, as gasoline-powered lawn equipment creates pollution from exhaust and spillage when refilling the tanks.

This is just one more way that Colorado’s electric co-ops and Tri-State are innovatively creating beneficial electrification opportunities for consumer-members across the state.

In response to the CDC’s recommendation to wear masks while performing essential services in the community during the pandemic, a group of United Power employees (Operations Manager Brent Sydow; Safety Specialist Mike Robinson; Purchasing Director Curtis Subia; and Operations Superintendent Kurt Eisenbarth) had an innovative idea: repurposing fire-retardant work shirts into masks.

The Brighton-based electric cooperative had an extra supply of bright yellow FR (flame resistant) shirts on hand and gave those to a local seamstress to design and make the masks. The masks were provided to all United Power essential crews.

These special masks are important since lineworkers dress for the job and their clothing is designed to protect them in case of an electrical contact. These essential workers cannot simply use an off-the-shelf face mask and stay safe on the job. The FR face masks maintain that protection for these crews.

The cooperative is also providing the rest of its employees with non-FR masks repurposed from United Power T-shirts it had in stock. These will be used when the social distancing restrictions have been lifted and their staff is back in the office. Currently, the co-op is utilizing teleworking protocols and many of their 175 employees are working from home when it is feasible.

Exemplifying the seventh cooperative principle, Concern for Community, Colorado’s electric cooperatives joined with the state’s co-op power supplier and one of its lenders to donate money to the Colorado Relief Fund in early April. The funds were sent as the first “stay-at-home” order was issued and co-op consumer-members found themselves out of work and businesses were forced to alter their operations or close.

CREA, the trade association for Colorado’s electric cooperatives, donated $5,000 to the Colorado Relief Fund. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which supplies electricity to 18 of the Colorado’s 22 electric cooperatives, donated money to relief funds in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming that totaled $200,000. Tri-State serves 46 electric co-ops in those four states.

CoBank, a cooperative bank serving electric co-ops and other agribusinesses and Farm Credit associations nationwide, donated $150,000 to the University of Colorado Foundation to support UCHealth’s response as the state’s leading provider of acute care for COVID-19 victims. The bank also increased funds in its dollar-for-dollar matching program that allows local co-ops to assist nonprofit organizations in rural communities.

Concern for Community is one of the guiding principles for not-for-profit cooperatives. Electric cooperatives, which were formed by local communities, have a long history of supporting their local areas in times of crisis. The co-op response to the COVID-19 crisis is another example of that.

“Cooperatives know well that we are all stronger when we combine our resources and work together to serve our communities,” said Rick Gordon, chairman of Tri-State and a director at Mountain View Electric Association in Limon.

“CREA is working throughout this crisis to support its member cooperatives as they support their local communities,” said CREA Executive Director Kent Singer. “Together we will get through this.”

In 2019, Granby-based electric cooperative Mountain Parks Electric rebated more than $38,000 to 19 consumer-members who installed local solar projects. The rebates were funded by voluntary contributions to MPE’s Green Power Program.

“Our local power supply keeps getting greener,” said MPE General Manager Mark Johnston. “Part of it is the generation we purchase from local solar and wind projects, which we rebate through our Green Power Program.”

More than 1,200 MPE consumer-members support the innovative Green Power program. MPE earmarks monthly contributions (as little as $1 a month) for local residential and small commercial renewable energy rebates. Since 2011, MPE has rebated more than $200,000 toward local renewable installations.

For more information about the Green Power program history and stats through the years, visit mpei.com/green-power-program-history-stats.