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Posted on Wed., Dec. 27, 2006
Grand Junction Sentinal
DMEA's Green Revolution
Delta-Montrose Electric Association is at the forefront of a green revolution in the electric industry, encouraging its customers to conserve energy and even to adopt the latest in alternative technology to make their homes more energy efficient and reduce their consumption of electricity. More power (pardon the pun) to the DMEA, we say.
However, Tri-State Energy, DMEA’s wholesale electric supplier looks to the future with conventional, 20th century coal-burning technology. Lots of it. And that has sparked a revolt from the DMEA Board of Directors.
Last Thursday, the DMEA board voted not to sign a 10-year contract extension with Tri-State that the wholesaler said is needed from all of its 44 member cooperatives so that it can build three new, coal-fired generating plants over the coming decades.
Congratulations to the DMEA board. As energy prices continue to rise and maintaining regional air quality becomes an ever more complex challenge, turning toward more conservation and alternative energy is, indeed, the more conservative approach, as a DMEA spokesman said. It is far more fiscally prudent to look to solutions that involve lower capital outlays, less likelihood of costly repairs down the road and are better for the environment, to boot.
Coloradans approved Amendment 37 two years ago that established requirements for alternative energy production over the next decade. And it is already producing results. Xcel Energy, the state’s largest supplier of electricity, is now expected to meet the requirement that 10 percent of its generation capacity come from alternative energy by 2008, well ahead of the 2015 requirement. Most of that alternative energy will come from wind generation.
But energy cooperatives such as Tri-State were not required to meet the same alternative-energy requirements as Xcel. And only a handful of its member cooperatives, DMEA most prominent among them, has pushed hard for conservation and alternative energy.
In addition to rejecting the contract extension, DMEA also wants Tri-State to raise its 5 percent cap on local energy production. That could allow more coal-related energy generation, but in an entirely different form. Methane being vented from coal mines in the North Fork Valley could be used to generate electricity in this area, as could wood waste and biomass resources, a DMEA spokesman said.
Furthermore, DMEA took issue with a recent price increase from Tri-State, driven by the wholesaler's plans for the three new coal plants that would cost an estimated $5 billion.
It has sent its customers brochures explaining the increase, the problems with relying exclusively on coal generation and offering them tips on conservation to reduce their energy costs.
That's not the old way of doing business for electric companies. But it is exactly the sort of thinking needed for the 21st century. It's to be hoped that more of Tri-State’s members adopt a similar philosophy.
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