Greenwashing Your Electricity

As of writing, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission homepage has a total of eight wind turbines on it; a curious number considering it is eight more than they have on their entire grid. This seems an oddity considering the tremendous wind energy resource within their sprawling service territory. But this is most likely about to change, as Colorado's co-ops are now required to come up with 10% of their energy from renewable sources.

It is unfortunate that Tri-State has resisted developing their excellent wind resource for so long. Now that there is a real danger of another lapse in federal renewable energy tax credits, wind energy developers will not exactly be lining up at Tri-State's Westminster, Colorado headquarters.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission provides power to 44 co-ops spread across 250,000 square miles of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico. Tri-State is itself a co-op (sort of). Maybe a better way of looking at the organization is that it is a co-op of co-ops; Tri-State is owned by the 44 co-ops it serves. And this institutional structure is not exactly conducive to change.

BlogNod & New Energy News

• The Climate and Energy Project blog has an excellent post wrapping up the latest developments in the Kansas legislature visa vis the Holcomb power plant expansion. One of the partners in the Holcomb project, Tri-State Generation and Transmission of Colorado, has announced that they will be investigating the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in southeastern Colorado - news that apparently came as a complete surprise to the residents of Holly, CO.
  
• A post by Sarah Gilman at High Country News' GOAT blog illuminates the coalition of 400 sportsmen’s groups who are fighting to revamp the antiquated 1872 Mining Act. Led by the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited, the so-called Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining is seeking to gain legal protection for millions of acres of public lands, rivers, and streams from dangerous mining practices and fly-by-night mining operations.
  
• This week's Living On Earth had a story about a paper plant's 'test burning' of tires for energy, and how Sen. Hillary Clinton was not opposed to it - in fact she supported it [audio available].
  
• A measure requiring renewable energy sources make up half the electricity in California by 2025 took a step toward making the November ballot on Tuesday, when proponents turned in about 735,000 signatures to officials in the state, according to a report in Reuters.
  

Can I Re-energize My REA? I've Got to Win an Election First

In 2004, Colorado became the first state in the country to pass a citizen-initiated renewable energy standard (RES). Amendment 37 required all investor owned utilities get 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Xcel Energy made such strides towards meeting the requirement that, in 2007, Gov. Bill Ritter signed a bill doubling the RES for investor owned utilities to 20 percent by 2020. Why am I rehashing all of this? Because, during the period from 2004-2008, while Xcel was building substantial renewable energy capacity, nearly all of the state's rural electric associations carried on with business as usual, because the renewable energy requirement did not apply to them. And that's where I come in. It is time to let the cat out of the bag: I have spent the last several months campaigning for a seat on the Board of Directors of my co-op, the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association.

I decided early on that I would not use any of the Green Options blogs as a bully pulpit, and that I would also steer ecopolitology away from my PVREA board candidacy. With that said, now that the election is only a few days away, and most people who intend to vote have already done so, I have decided to tell my readers a little more about the whole thing. But instead of me telling you about it, I will let others do the talking for me. Below are two sets of excerpts, the first is from a media statement released by a non-profit called PV-Pioneers, a group that I am proud to be associated with. The second set of excerpts is taken from a recent article by Dan MacArthur that appeared in the North Forty News.

The Colorado non-profit organization, PV-Pioneers, has announced its support of Tim Hurst, Steve Szabo, and Roger Alexander, in this year's Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association Board of Directors election.

The local citizen's group, which promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy, and rate reform by PVREA, encouraged members to watch for election ballots in their mail box, for the co-op's first mail-in election. Candidate Steve Szabo said, "This is an opportunity to join other utilities who are saving money by making smart investments in efficiency, wind and solar power and who are passing savings to their customers." The Longmont area organic grower added, "PVREA has been overcommitted to yesterday's technologies and has been slow to adopt effective and aggressive energy efficiency programs. The unfortunate result has been higher rates for everyone."

Roger Alexander, candidate for the PVREA Board seat representing Larimer County, said "This election is about your money, and your electric rates. It is important to support a vision with programs that will keep our electric bills low by promoting energy efficiency, wind, and solar." Alexander, a Fort Collins energy efficiency consultant and solar energy system integrator noted that PVREA rates have jumped 30% over the past 3 years. He added "Our first priority is to proactively choose efficiency programs which minimize costs for customers and the utility."

Tim Hurst, candidate for the at-large seat, supports increased investment in clean energy. He exclaimed, "This is a terrific chance to simultaneously protect our environment and create new jobs and economic growth for the area's rural community." Hurst further explained that "Our vision of a clean, cost-efficient energy future begins here in Larimer, Weld, and Boulder counties, not exclusively with distant, costly coal based electric plants."

PV-Pioneers president Kevin Markey explained that the citizens' group looked for candidates with a progressive vision, who were willing and able to face the electric cooperative's challenges with new ideas and new vigor. He said, "The traditional ideas and conservative management style of the current board may have worked when energy prices were stable and the energy world was predictable. Now we need to replace that thinking with a more proactive, entrepreneurial management." He also noted that the three candidates, although in disagreement with current PVREA policies, have worked constructively with PVREA Board and staff.

Challengers Energize REA Voting

By Dan MacArthur - North Forty News

The theme of change dominating presidential politics is seeping down to the local level in the fierce race for election to the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association board of directors.

A slate of three alternative energy advocates allied as the PV Pioneers is waging a concerted campaign for three of the four director seats up for election at the March 15 annual meeting.

The race makes apparent the changing face of the consumer-owned, nonprofit cooperative.

Formed nearly 70 years ago in the wake of the Depression, its mission was bringing electricity to far-flung farms across Larimer and Weld counties.

Today it serves 35,618 increasingly suburban members. The REA maintains more than 3,800 miles of line spread over 3,600 square miles of Northern Colorado.

"Previously there were few contests for the 11 board seats. They typically were held by long-time directors associated with agriculture. In 2007, however, a pair of relative newcomers pushing renewable resources and challenging continued reliance on coal-fired electric generation came within a whisker of unseating two incumbents.

Roger Alexander and Steve Szabo challenged plans by the REA's wholesale supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, to build two new coal-fired power plants in western Kansas and a third in southeastern Colorado.

Tri-State insisted the plants were needed to meet future demands. But Alexander and Szabo maintained the $5 billion total cost was excessive and unnecessary. Those needs, they asserted, could be met more economically and environmentally soundly through greater conservation and use of renewable energy.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment rejected the power plant plans, however, and a compromise is now being drafted by the Kansas Legislature. It would allow construction of the plants to proceed, providing Tri-State minimizes the carbon dioxide emissions widely believed by scientists to contribute to global warming.

Those two PV (Poudre Valley or Photo-Voltaic) Pioneers are back again, with the addition of Tim Hurst, campaigning on a plank of three R's - rates, reliability and renewable energy. They want Poudre Valley and other co-ops to press for greater development of renewable energy by Tri-State.

"This year's contest has been quiet and civil for the most part with candidates from both camps expressing respect for the ideas and opinions offered by the other. Beneath it all, however, is a deep split between those convinced coal-generated electricity is the only real option in the foreseeable future and those equally convinced it should be the last option.

"There are two very different philosophies," said 18-year board member Jim Park, who is being challenged by Hurst.

"They think green power is the answer to everything," said Dean Anderson, who's being opposed by Roger Alexander. While green power has its place, Anderson said it remains expensive and unreliable. It is available only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing and can't be stored for later use when it is needed most.

There also is a less profound split about whether global warming is a consequence of the carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.

"I don't think (the directors) really understand what's happening with climate change. It's kind of irrefutable," said Szabo.

"Quite frankly, I don't buy into that totally," Park said. He suggested such warming instead could result from long-term cyclical variations.

"It really seems that it's only in the U.S. that the discussion still exists," said Alexander. Disputable or not, he asked, "What's the downside of moving away from fossil fuels now? Why would you gamble with the future of the human race?"

Kansas Coal Proponents Try New Strategy for Power Plant

First, they became involved in the only American case, thus far, of a coal-fired power plant being denied a permit based upon the negative impact of its carbon dioxide emissions. Then they cried foul and filed a lawsuit. Right around the same time, they produced a series of ads with Peabody Coal suggesting that Kansas legislators were playing into the hands of people like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now, according to a report in DeSmogBlog, Sunflower Electric has joined forces with the several other co-ops, the Kansas Farm Bureau, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO among others, to form a group that seems poised to fight the state of Kansas' October decision to deny the permit of two coal-fired electricity generators. And apparently the group's flashy new website is registered directly to Sunflower Electric Power Corporation.

According to the website:

The Alliance for Sound Energy Policy is a statewide, non-partisan organization committed to balancing our growing energy needs with environmental stewardship while encouraging the development of a comprehensive energy strategy that provides an affordable, reliable, and diverse energy portfolio for Kansas' future."

But a quick run through of the website content and the organization's list of members reveals a severe shortage of those who might be called "environmental stewards." Members on that list are:

Central & Western Kansas Building & Construction Trades Council

Finney County Board of Commissioners

Kansas AFL-CIO

Kansas Chamber of Commerce

Kansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc.

Kansas Farm Bureau

Kansas IBEW Local 304

Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Midwest Energy Inc.

Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Sunflower Electric Power Corporation

Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Inc.

Western Cooperative Electric Association, Inc.

Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc.

If the above list doesn't do much to ease your concerns about the ecopolitics of the new organization, perhaps a snippet from their recent press release will:

"The diversity of our coalition makes the Alliance for Sound Energy Policy a credible voice in the debate over balancing our growing electricity demand with our need to protect the environment."

Oh, now I get it. Simply saying that you are diverse, means that you are diverse. I feel much better now [note sarcasm].

Photo: Courtesy of simplerich via flickr

What are the Alternatives to Electricity Rate Hikes?

Ft. Collins, CO – The electric co-op that serves over 30,000 residential and business customers in rural portions of Larimer, Weld, and Boulder counties in Northeast Colorado, has increased its electricity rates 24 percent over the last three years. But the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA) is hardly alone. In response to these un-relenting rate hikes and over-reliance on coal-fired power, the Colorado non-profit group PV-Pioneers, has proposed an alternative plan that would encourage reductions in demand by focusing on energy efficiency and the principle of avoided costs.

The proposed plan suggests that the REA could finance Home Energy Makeovers for members who need them the most, and can afford them least. REAs and co-ops are in a position to make these loans because of their ability to secure no-interest federal loans themselves. The program would allow structural energy efficiency improvements including permanent housing weatherization improvements, replacement of inefficient appliances, or even just the replacement of incandescent with compact fluorescent or LED lighting.

PVREA's current assistance program - like many energy assistance programs across the country - help people pay their bills when they cannot afford to pay themselves. These programs can be incredibly helpful. But the problem is they create little incentive to permanently reduce those bills. They really mask the problem, rather than addressing some of the root causes.

This program is being presented as an alternative to rate increases that PVREA will have to absorb if its wholesale provider, Tri-State G&T continues its search to find somewhere to build a new coal-fired power plant. Just last month, Tri-State made national headlines when they, along with Sunflower Electric of Kansas, were denied an air permit by the Kansas Department of Health for a proposed expansion of the Holcomb coal-fired power plant in Southwestern Kansas.

The PV-Pioneers is a Colorado non-profit group made up of Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association members from Larimer, Weld, and Boulder counties. The group works to keep future rates down, to promote energy efficiency programs and to facilitate the generation of locally abundant renewable energy resources.
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Denial of Kansas Plant Seen as Opportunity for Co-ops

TOPEKA, Kan. – Supporters of a proposed coal-fired power plant in Kansas that would provide power to most parts of rural Colorado are working to revive it after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant. Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s partner in the project, Sunflower Electric, has filed papers with the KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby to reconsider his rejection of the air permit.

In the written decision to deny the Tri-State/Sunflower permit last Friday, Secretary Bremby said that “it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing.” Sunflower and Tri-State have already begun the appeal process. "We are disappointed with the Secretary's arbitrary and capricious action," said Earl Watkins, Sunflower's president and chief executive officer.

I see the denial of the air permit as an opportunity for Tri-State's 44 member owned co-ops to seize opportunities in efficiency and renewable energies. Not only is Northern Colorado blessed with excellent wind, solar, and biomass resources that can all be harnessed to make clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy, much the same can be said for most of Tri-State's coverage area. Tri-State needs to see the writing on the wall that carbon-emission legislation is coming, and that it is only a matter of time before we are living in a carbon-constrained world. In stead of frittering away member-owners' valuable resources fighting for the construction of new coal-fired power plants, Tri-State should be investing in efficiency, smart-grid technologies, distributed generation, and other ways in which its many members can directly capitalize on the new energy economy.

Exactly how the co-ops will be able to take advantage of the upcoming energy legislation remains to be seen. Rumors continue to swirl that the final bill may be only a skeleton of its former self. I am not playing prognosticator here, but it is quite possible there may be no RPS, no solar tax credit, no extension of the federal production tax credit, and only a meager increase in CAFE standards. I believe that something useful will be passed out of the legislature, I'm just a little skeptical about how many of those good things will make it.

Yet there may be one kernel of hope for renewable energy that is tucked away in the otherwise much-maligned farm bill that would grow renewables by incentivizing distributed microgeneration through a tax credit for small wind. More on this later this week...

Photo Credits:
1. Brian Brainerd, Denver Post