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Local Renewable Energy Projects
Cooperatives have a unique role in the development of local, community-based renewable energy and distributed generation projects.
Tri-State’s board of directors has authorized an aggressive, first-of-its-kind in the nation program to incentivize the development of local renewable energy projects within its members' service territories. Under the program, Tri-State will make available renewable performance payments to its members to support a variety of community-based renewable energy projects.
The renewable energy incentive program further enables Tri-State members to develop local renewable resources that diversify the resource base while assisting to meet renewable portfolio standards requirements. These projects complement Tri-State’s existing renewable portfolio and the near-term addition of utility-scale renewable resources.
Highline Electric's Trailblazer waste heat recovered energy generation project
 Highline Electric Association, Tri-State, Ormat Technologies and Kinder Morgan Pipeline, coordinated to bring online the Trailblazer heat recovered energy generation project, which will produce four megawatts of electricity at peak.
Highline expects to save about $10 million in power costs over the 20-year life of the contract. The waste-heat generator will produce 27,600 megawatt-hours of energy annually. The facility, owned and operated by Ormat, will capture waste heat produced by the Kinder Morgan natural gas compressor along the Trailblazer natural gas pipeline in eastern Colorado.
Recovered energy generation projects use hot exhaust gases from an existing natural gas-fueled compressor station to generate electricity. The heat in the compressor exhaust stack is recovered using heat exchangers. The recovered heat is then used to vaporize a fluid to drive a turbine/generator set that ultimately produces the energy. Since the generator requires no additional fuel, renewable energy from the recovered heat is generated at a very low cost.
The project has virtually no emissions or environmental impact and is located within the existing compressor station yard. Overall, the project is considered a zero emission process, since the capture of waste heat is the primary source of energy to drive the process. In fact, the reduction of exhausted heat to the atmosphere can be considered a positive environmental impact.
San Miguel's Small Hydro project at Ouray
 Located in Ouray, Colo., this site dates back to 1886 when it initially produced direct current to the town of Ouray. Around the turn of the 20th century, the Ouray plant was converted to alternating current after scientist Nikola Tesla demonstrated the more practical advantages of AC current’s ability to be transmitted over longer distances to a larger consumer base.
Today, the 900-kilowatt hydroplant on the Uncompahgre River serves as both a tourist attraction and a source of renewable power for Xcel Energy and Tri-State member San Miguel Power Association (Nucla, Colo.). Through a contractual agreement, San Miguel purchases part of the output of the plant to offset part of its member-consumer’s power requirements and receives green credits for their use.
According to San Miguel’s Bill Green, the co-op purchases about 700,000 kilowatt-hours of green power for delivery to its consumers.
La Plata's Williams generator waste heat recovery project
 With the support of Tri-State’s local renewable board policies, a growing number of the association’s member systems have embarked upon local renewable projects that are now putting energy onto the power grid. To date, the largest of those projects (in terms of capacity output) is the six-megawatt Williams Four Corners/Ignacio heat recovery plant served by La Plata Electric Association in Durango, Colo.
This heat recovery plant utilizes waste heat from the Williams processing complex, which extracts and produces various fuels including Ethane, Propane, Butane and gasoline. The recovered heat is derived from the exhaust of the turbines used in the fuel production process. Ultimately this waste heat, which would otherwise be vented as an unused exhaust, is used to heat a boiler to produce steam and spin a turbine to produce electricity. Heat recovery generation qualifies as renewable energy source under Colorado’s renewable energy portfolio requirements.
The Williams heat recovery plant produces enough renewable power to supply the needs of up to 7,000 homes on La Plata Electric’s system.
United Power's Sol Partners Cooperative solar farm
 Tri-State member system United Power has developed a project that illustrates the cooperative model in its purest form, while simultaneously “greening” the co-op’s energy load. The venture – Sol Partners Cooperative Solar Farm – is a first-of its- kind cooperative solar farm supported by individual member investments. As part of United Power’s New Energy program, the solar farm is another concept of the continuing effort by the co-op to provide unique and innovative solutions for its members, allowing them to personally invest in green resources.
For an initial investment of $1,050, United Power members may lease a 210-watt solar panel for a 25-year period, during which time the member reaps all the benefits of the panel in the form of solar credits on their electricity bills. The initial Sol Partners module consists of 48 photovoltaic panels representing 10 kilowatts of power.
United Power anticipates that one 210-watt panel will produce about a 3 percent return on its investment or approximately $32 per year in electricity credits. On average, it requires 20 panels to offset 100 percent of the electric usage for an average home.
A $50,000 investment from the Governor’s Energy Office of Colorado assisted in offsetting much of the initial cost of the design, engineering and development of the solar farm. Additionally, United Power provided in-kind labor for construction of the modules.
Kit Carson's University of New Mexico solar plant
 When the sun is shining, the 3.5-acre, 500-kilowatt system provides all of the electric energy needs of the University of New Mexico’s Taos campus. Any excess generation will be purchased by Kit Carson Electric under a Policy 115 member local renewable project. While the solar plant - with its 2,700 panels that track the sun’s movement across the sky each day - is an impressive sight for any visitor to northern New Mexico, it represents just the first of many steps planned by Kit Carson in educating its consumers to embrace sustainable energy and ultimately help the co-op support its goal of bringing 2,015 solar systems on-line by the year 2015.
In 2007, the New Mexico electric co-op applied for $5 million in tax-exempt Clean Renewable Energy Bonds. Six months later, the co-op received word that it would receive funding under the program for this solar array.
On July 1, 2009, UNM-Taos and Kit Carson Electric hosted Energy Independence Day to celebrate the construction of the site, which is the state’s largest solar generation plant to date. Nearly 400 guests attended the event, including 40 state legislators, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Ben Lujan, as well as community leaders and directors of Kit Carson Electric. The media coverage included a live broadcast from Taos’s own solar-powered radio station, KTAO-FM.
Local Renewable Energy Project Locations
Updated December 9, 2009
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