Renewable Energy
Thank You!!
Thanks for buying green! Green means developing sources of renewable energy. Green means generating environmentally friendly power. Green refers to our commitment to protect Colorado's natural resources by relying on limitless, natural energy alternatives.
Mountain View Electric Association wishes to thank you for helping support our green initiative. Currently we have 408 members buying 1,193 – 100 kWh blocks per month. In addition, Schriever AFB purchases 1500 – 100 kWh blocks per month.
We thank you for helping us lead Colorado into a cleaner, greener millennium. Working together, we can help ensure a bright future for Colorado's environment.
MVEA Green Power Price Reduced
MVEA recently received notification that Tri-State Generation & Transmission, MVEA's power supplier, will lower the cost of green power beginning January 1, 2007. The new cost will be $0.40 per 100 kWh block. MVEA will pass this cost reduction on to our members.
The reduced cost of remewable energy was the primary reason for the rate reduction. Members will have the option of lowering their monthly contribution to green power to $0.40 per 100 kWh block or maintaining their current contribuiton level and double the number of blocks. We will keep you updated as January nears.
Tri-States Renewable Resources
Mountain View Electric Association has given our members the opportunity to purchase green power since 1999. MVEA purchases their renewable energy through our power supplier, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association headquartered in Denver. They sell more than 7,500 megawatt-hours of green power annually to its member systems in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. When Crested Butte Ski Resort's agreement, this number will climb to over 34,000 MWh. Although most of the renewable energy Tri-State provides to its member systems is generated at wind farms, renewable energy research has extended to other technologies.
Tri-State was formed in the early 1950's to administer the consolidated contracts that its member co-ops and public power systems held with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for energy produced at federally operated hydroelectric power plants. Today, the association continues to be one of the region's largest buyers of federal hydropower.
In 1998, Tri-State responded to requests by its member systems, including MVEA, to include a green power option as part of its available resources to end-use consumers. At that time, the association began purchasing wind generation from a Wyoming wind site under an interim agreement with PacifiCorp. A year later, the G&T signed a 15-year agreement with Platte River Power Authority of Fort Collins to purchase energy from that utility's wind farm near Medicine Bow, WY. Tri-State purchases a total of 153 megawatt-hours of wind power per month from that site.
As a member of Basin Electric Power Cooperative in Bismarck, N.D., Tri-State also purchases a portion of its available wind generation from Basin's Prairie Winds Program. This program is comprised of six wind project sites totaling 85 megawatts of capacity.
Wind power and other renewable resources, such as small hydropower, biomass, and solar energy, are purchased on the open market by Tri-State through a system of "green tags" or "green certificates."
In 2004, Tri-State added to its renewable resource portfolio with the signing of several small party agreements. They began buying energy from one large hydro plant operating at Vallecito Reservoir in southwestern Colorado and smaller facilities at Crook Falls, Jackson Gulch, Coal Creek, Lemon Dam and Franklin Springer.
There is also a growing use of biomass energy. This is the power production from plant and other waste materials and is a way to boost the rural economy of Tri-State's member systems' consumers working in agriculture. At present, there are contractual arrangements with three hog-processing facilities – two in Wyoming and one in southeastern Colorado – to market as green power the excess electricity in a process that harvests methane from hog waste as a fuel to produce energy with small turbine/generators.
Great strides have been made for solar to become a more viable renewable energy option, but many factors still exist that do not make this option feasible for Tri-State. Consumer demand for affordable electricity requires that the association depend on more conventional sources of baseload generation to meet demand. Additionally, the land requirements and guaranteed availability of solar energy (specifically derived from photovoltaic solar cells) required to provide electricity to consumers on a reliable basis makes solar technology options difficult to employ. As with any renewable energy source, proximity to transmission lines is essential to transport power generated from solar sites.
As the interest and commitment to renewable energy grows, Tri-State will continue to seek new opportunities to purchase power generated from these sources. Technological advancements in wind power alone have dramatically reduced the cost of bringing that power to market. With significant new capacity going on-line each year, it is expected that renewable resources will become less costly and more widely available.
Colorado Ski Resorts Go Green
Vail Resorts has chosen to offset 100% of its energy use by purchasing nearly 152,000 MWh of wind energy annually for its five mountain resorts, its lodging properties and all 125 retail locations. Vail Resorts will become the second largest purchaser of wind power of all corporations in the U.S., the company says. "Our core mission is to provide extraordinary vacation experiences in spectacular mountain settings," says Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts."By embracing wind power as a clean and renewable source for 100 percent of our company's electricity use, we want to reinforce our commitment to the natural environment in which we operate and be a leader on this critical effort within the travel industry." Holy Cross Energy is the electric cooperative providing power to this mountain resort. They purchase their energy from Xcel Energy.
Triple Peaks LLC, the operator of the Crested Butte ski area in Colorado, has agreed to purchase 27,000 MWh of wind-generated power for the ski resort. According to Triple Peak owners Tim and Diane Mueller, Crested Butte will reinvest a percentage of its clean-energy purchase to develop Colorado-based renewable energy resources. The investment is similar to that of Aspen Skiing Co., which purchased credits for $22,000 and later designated 5% of it to Colorado-based power. Crested Butte's power is supplied by Gunnison County Electric Association, also an electric cooperative and member of Tri-State G&T.
Generating Your Own Electricity
Building your own power generation is not an inexpensive proposition. In addition to all the equipment that must be purchased and installed, there are also permits to acquire and a variety of rules and regulations that must be adhered to. It seems like a perfect plan to harness all the "free" energy from the wind and sun, but the reality may be far different than expected. We do not say this to discourage your enthusiasm, only that we would encourage our members to do a lot of research before investing their money.
If you are interested in building your own generation and tying it into the grid, please refer fo MVEA's Qualifying Facilities document. Or, you can contact either MVEA office. For your other permits, contact your county, city or regional governing agency.
MVEA has always supported renewable energy. For more than 50 years, we have purchased hydropower through our supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Since 1999, we have offered our members the option of purchasing green power. In the past, your cooperative has sponsored wind power workshops for those interested in the possibility of wind farms sited on their property. MVEA has been proactive on the issue of green power and urges our members to help support clean and green.
Please contact MVEA if you have any questions on the policy or the various forms of generation. MVEA's professionals can help you with your project.
Green Tags -- What The Heck Are They?
Buying green power does not mean that it is actually delivered to our meter. Instead of getting green power at our meter, we simply expect the amount of energy we have purchased to be delivered to the electric grid. We still get the electricity we use, and we also get the benefits of more wind or other clean energy source on the wires. Another way to say this is, we buy the electricity "bundled" together with the green attributes that add value to the electricity.
Now imagine that each kilowatt-hour (kWh) produced by a wind plant or other renewable power source has a label or tag attached to it. The label represents the attributes of that energy, such as the avoided pollution from not burning fossil fuels. These attributes can be "unbundled" from the electricity sold and purchased separately from the electricity generation that created them. When unbundled from electricity, these attributes are called "Tradable Renewable Certificates" (TRC) You may also hear them referred to as renewable energy credits (REC), green tags, or green tickets. The price they trade for represents the premium value that markets place on green power. We can buy generic electricity at the lowest possible cost, and buy an appropriate amount of TRCs to "green" that electricity for whatever value the market places on them.
Green tags make it possible for Tri-State to purchase green power for MVEA members. Although what you get at your meter is not necessarily the green power you purchased, Tri-State will have paid the premium for the environmental benefits to the renewable energy generator. By buying green power, you can be assured that the renewable energy is generated – somewhere. The location of the source is not something you normally consider when purchasing renewable energy. It is more the global benefits and the support of renewable energy generation.
TRCs are limited in quantity. A green energy provider (such as a wind farm) is credited with one green tag for every 1,000 kWh of electricity it produces. A certifying agency gives each green tag a unique identification number to make sure it is not counted twice. The green energy is then fed into the electrical grid and the accompanying green tag can then be sold on the open market.
Since the production of renewable energy is generally higher in cost than fossil fuel production, a green tag, or REC, represents an additional payment for producing power from renewable resources. This allows the producer to create and sell electricity at the local market price and enables more clean renewable energy to be made.
According to the Center for Resource Solutions, prices of green tags can fluctuate greatly. They currently run from $0.30 to $300.00 per MWh. Prices depend on many factors, such as the location of the facility producing the green tags, whether there is a tight supply/demand situation, whether the green tag is used for Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) compliance or even the type of power created.
While the value of green tags fluctuates, most sellers of green tags are legally obligated to deliver to their customers within a few months of their generation date. Other organizations will sell as many green tags as possible and then use the funds generated to guarantee a specific fixed price to a future wind farm, for example, making the building of the wind farm a financially viable project. The income provided by green tags and a long-term stabilized market for tags can generate the additional incentive needed to build renewable energy projects.
