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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 trade association for electric co-ops built a five-layer configuration of cyber tools. Now it is moving ahead with Essence 2.0, which monitors potential cyberthreats and provides instant feedback and data to co-op network administrators and system operators to isolate the problem and defend the system. After getting baseline information and data, the cutting-edge program then constantly evaluates the system for any abnormal activity, which, when detected, sends an alert.

The DOE funds will help NRECA develop, deploy and test the technology at 55 member electric co-ops across the country over three years. Stay tuned to this newsletter from CREA to learn how Essence 2.0 will help Colorado’s electric co-ops maintain and advance grid security across distribution systems.

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 Source, Air Source, and Cold Climate Heat Pumps
Path Toward Creating and RTO for Colorado
How Co-ops Will Recover from the Pandemic
X-PRIZE & CO2 Storage
Ballot Measure Review
Electric Vehicles in Colorado

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 Plan, which established the goal for the co-op to attain 70% renewable supply by 2030. HCE is taking assertive steps to achieve this goal, including PPAs with a 100-megawatt wind project and a 30-MW solar project, both of which went online in 2019.

Grid modernization and clean energy solutions are the focus of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, providing tools and resources to electric utilities to engage in forward-thinking change. Each year SEPA awards utilities which demonstrate this innovative thinking to advance clean energy and create replicable projects.

Watch a message from SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm and Holy Cross Energy’s President and CEO Bryan Hannegan: https://youtu.be/Nx-mJ7UnHHc

Grid modernization and clean energy solutions are the focus of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, providing tools and resources to electric utilities to engage in forward-thinking change. Each year SEPA awards individuals and utilities which demonstrate this innovative thinking to advance clean energy and create replicable projects.

2020 Power Players Award finalists include Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission CEO Duane Highley and Glenwood Springs-based electric cooperative Holy Cross Energy.

Highley was nominated for the Individual Power Player of the Year award. This award recognizes an individual who demonstrates leadership and innovation “to significantly advance an integrative perspective of clean energy, DER, grid modernization and its value as a resource to meet the needs of their electricity consumers.” In his first year at Tri-State, Highley led the organization through transformational changes to produce cleaner energy. With its Responsible Energy Plan, Tri-State has significantly expanded renewables, reduced emissions and increased flexibility for its member distribution cooperatives to develop more local renewable projects.

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. Holy Cross Energy is a 2020 finalist for this award. In 2018, Holy Cross Energy adopted the Seventy70Thirty Plan, which established the goal for the co-op to attain 70% renewable supply by 2030. HCE is taking assertive steps to achieve this goal, including PPAs with a 100-megawatt wind project and a 30-MW solar project, both of which went online in 2019.

Electric cooperatives will see an acceleration of growth in renewable resources over the next three years primarily led by large solar projects, according to a July business and technology advisory published by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Colorado’s electric co-ops are contributing to a large portion of this national trend with many local solar and renewable projects. Recent projects include:
• A 101-kilowat solar garden at Gunnison County Electric Association headquarters in current construction
• Highline Electric Association’s 1.5-megawatt Riverview Solar project
• Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s 110-megawatt Dolores Canyon solar project, projected to be online in 2023.

Today, the co-ops’ renewable portfolio is diverse. All electric cooperatives are not-for-profit, and therefore cannot utilize federal tax credits other utilities use to keep costs lower for renewable project development, so they work with others to get the job done. Of the 10.1 GW of co-op renewable capacity, more than 8.6 GW are under power purchase agreements rather than owned.