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Clean Energy Means Business Summit highlights renewable energy opportunities and challenges in rural Colorado

11/16/2018

By Joe Smyth | [email protected] | @joesmyth

At the Clean Energy Means Business Summit in Denver this week, representatives of municipalities and companies in Colorado discussed how they are pursuing their renewable energy goals, including navigating the challenges and opportunities of working with electric cooperatives in Colorado. The event, organized by the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association and the Compact of Colorado Communities, also included presentations from solar energy developers, electric utilities, and state officials.

Craig Edwards, Director of Corporate Services at Aurora Organic Dairy, discussed how the company considers a variety of options for on-site renewable energy projects at its operations in Colorado and Texas, and said, “We’re just wrapping up a couple solar installations at two of our dairy farms here in Colorado, they’re our first steps towards our clean energy strategy.”

Edwards said that the Aurora had sometimes faced challenges in working with electric cooperatives as it pursues on-site renewable energy projects, but had found success by discussing the company’s goals with co-op staff. Aurora is still negotiating with other electric cooperatives about future projects:

We’re still working through many different negotiations with many of our co-ops. Each one of our locations we operate in has a unique mix of renewable energy sources and possibilities, we have a co-op for each one generally, so we look at everything on a case by case basis.

Governor-elect Jared Polis says moving Colorado toward more renewable energy will be a top priority

11/8/2018

New report shows that renewable energy prices continue to decline, undercutting the costs of existing coal plants

By Joe Smyth | [email protected] | @joesmyth

Colorado voters elected Jared Polis to be the state’s next governor on Tuesday, joining several other states that also elected governors who campaigned on clean energy. Polis campaigned on a platform that included bringing Colorado to 100% renewable energy by 2040, and in an interview with the Denver Post yesterday, said that renewable energy would be among his top priorities:

Is there anything in particular you plan on prioritizing?

Certainly, saving families money on health care, expanding access to preschool and kindergarten, and taking the steps to move toward more renewable energy will be among our top priorities both through executive actions as well as working with the state legislature.

In a debate last month, Polis emphasized that moving toward renewable energy could benefit ratepayers, because of the declining prices for new renewable energy:

Electric cooperative officials discuss cheap renewable energy and an “eroding monopoly”

11/1/2018

By Joe Smyth | [email protected] | @joesmyth

At the 2018 Colorado Rural Electric Association Energy Innovations Summit this week in Denver, electric utility industry officials discussed changes in energy technologies and utility business models, such as increasing customer choices and declining costs of distributed renewable energy. But while there was broad agreement about the opportunities provided by cheaper renewable energy, there were disagreements about the scope and pace of business model changes underway in the industry - and the implications of those changes for the hundreds of electric cooperative directors and staff attending the conference.

Steve Collier, Director of Smart Grid Strategies at Milsoft Utility Solutions, delivered a presentation titled “Revolutionary Change in the Electric Industry: Threats and Opportunities,” which focused on the implications for electric cooperatives of what he described as an “eroding monopoly.” Collier explained:

What choices do customers have other than buying from you, all that that they have ever bought? Do they have choices? Yeah they have choices. Primarily distributed energy resources. But we’re not just talking about rooftop solar, we’re talking about a whole variety of options that they have to reduce the amount of electricity that they buy from you.

Clean Energy Means Business Summit highlights renewable energy opportunities and challenges in rural Colorado

Governor-elect Jared Polis says moving Colorado toward more renewable energy will be a top priority

Electric cooperative officials discuss cheap renewable energy and an “eroding monopoly”

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