Conference to Feature Loveland-based Lightning eMotors

Brighton, CO – United Power is hosting the cooperative’s first-ever Fleet Electrification Conference at its Carbon Valley Service Center, 9586 E I-25 Frontage Road, on September 29. Featured guest Lightning eMotors specializes in producing sustainable commercial fleet solutions, including electric vehicles. The free conference is open to public and private fleet operators and managers.

Guest speakers from United Power, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Northern Colorado Clean Cities will present their expertise in the emerging field of electrification at the conference. Topics covered during the conference include the State of Colorado’s new fleet electrification strategy, resources and funding options for fleet services, the growth and availability of charging infrastructure and the future of electrified fleets. During the conference, Lightning eMotors will also feature demonstration fleet electric vehicles.

United Power’s Fleet Electrification Conference convenes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and fleet vehicle demonstrations begin prior to the conference at 8 a.m. Interested attendees are encouraged to pre-register for the conference at www.unitedpowerfleets2021.rsvpify.com. Lunch will be provided.

What: United Power Fleet Electrification Conference
When: Wednesday, September 29, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: United Power’s Carbon Valley Service Center, 9586 E I-25 Frontage Road, Longmont, Colo.

Questions or comments regarding the upcoming conference can be directed to Joel Danforth, United Power’s Energy Programs and New Business Director, at 720-685-5644.

United Power is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative, delivering electricity to homes, farms and businesses throughout Colorado’s northern front range. The cooperative is one of the fastest-growing electric cooperatives in the nation, and in June joined the elite ranks of cooperatives serving more than 100,000 meters. The 900 square mile service territory extends from the mountains of Coal Creek and Golden Gate Canyon, along the I-25 corridor and Carbon Valley region, to the farmlands of Brighton, Hudson and Keenesburg. For more information about the cooperative, visit www.unitedpower.com or follow them on social media Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

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The hallmark of an electric cooperative is not simply providing reliable power to its members. United Power is deeply rooted in the communities it serves and committed to their success. We manage our resources in a way that allows us to give back to our communities and empowers our employees to do the same.

Many United Power employees have volunteered their own time and resources to local nonprofits and educational foundations throughout the service territory. They have been able to leverage both their professional experience with the cooperative and personal interests to become leaders who are critical to powering these organizations.

Amy Clement, a Senior Human Resources Generalist at United Power, has been serving on the Adams County Workforce Development Board since 2017. She is the current board chair and serves on the executive committee. The Workforce Development Board’s mission is to create opportunities for success by connecting businesses to a quality workforce in Adams County. The board is composed of community leaders who represent private industry, nonprofits and public agencies.

The individuals on the board represent a variety of industry roles, backgrounds and interests, helping generate quality discussions when determining goals and direction.

Clement said her involvement with the Workforce Development Board represents United Power as an employee of the cooperative, but that it also reflects her desire as a local resident to see community growth.

“My professional background in human resources has afforded me opportunities in workforce development and training that are beneficial to the board” she said. “At the same time, I enjoy personally serving not only the community I live in, but also the people that are looking to better their own lives through employment and career progression.”

When the position on the board opened in 2017, Tom Green, the district representative for United Power in Adams County, said he instantly recommended Clement.

“I believe it’s important for United Power employees to take part in local community organizations, especially when it relates to their role with the cooperative,” Green said. “Amy is a talented professional who I thought could provide fresh input on the workforce in Adams County and be a meaningful contributor on the Workforce Development Board.”

As executive committee chair, Clement is personally involved with policy updates and responsible for communications with state representatives, as well as managing board meetings each month. She recently worked with the board to establish an adult internship program to place Adams County residents in businesses to gain experience and advance their careers.

“This is an exciting opportunity to give back to the community,” she said. “I am hopeful we will be able to place an intern with United Power in the future.”

The board’s responsibilities are accomplished through the activities of the Adams County Workforce and Business Center. For more information, go to www.adcogove.org/WBC.

Message From United Power's President & CEO

There has been much written in recent months about the dynamics between United Power and Tri-State Generation & Transmission. This has resulted in a significant amount of unneeded expense and tension between the two organizations as well as among at least seven other Tri-State members.

It is important to understand United Power’s position in this conversation:

• We need a strong Tri-State G&T, and we need a Tri-State that recognizes the issues faced across our industry and communities.
• We need a powerful transmission organization like Tri-State to assure our place as a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) comes to the West, and as additional resources are added to our fuel mix and the grid becomes more critical and complex.
• We need our G&T to be responsive in driving down costs to help our rural economies and to support the growing membership demand for a cleaner, carbon-reduced future. And we need to make sure the exit from coal is rapidly executed while supporting the communities that will suffer in the short term from job and revenue loss.
• We need Tri-State to realize the dynamics of a changing industry mean more of our members want to generate electricity locally, to be untethered from fossil-based resources and released from the paradigm of centralized generation that is decades old. This will require a dramatic new business model, deep cost cutting and jettisoning of inefficient generation even in the face of financial hurdles.

To achieve this goal means a radical re-envisioning of the G&T model, one in which utility members can purchase as much – or as little – power as they need to support their communities; one in which Tri-State operates its grid on the basis of formalized tariffs, such as an Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), rather than “Hotel California” rules, where you can get in but never leave; one in which the G&T is the hub for renewable aggregation while not crippling the spokes; and one that is focused on the lowest possible costs and the needs of all its members, big and small.

It is important to be clear that the drive to remove coal from the fuel mix is only tangentially connected to regulation and political whim. It is tied 100% to the low cost of natural gas, coupled with the decreasing costs of renewable energy. This is economics, not politics. This disagreement has resulted in significant legal expenditures, tensions and burdens on staff and has not helped move the needle toward a low-cost, flexible, carbon-reduced environment.

United Power does not necessarily want to terminate its contract with Tri-State, although obtaining a reasonable price for termination would be a starting point for any analysis.

• United Power wants to continue to buy a defined amount of generation (capacity and energy) from Tri-State and has offered to do so.
• United Power wants to be an OATT customer and has offered to make this transition.
• United Power wants to buy additional energy from Tri-State at competitive prices when markets come to the West in the next 24 months.
• United Power wants to be able to buy as much energy generated in its service territory as its members want to provide. Our current Tri-State contract limits us to purchasing no more than 5% of our total power from local renewable resources.

It is illogical in a world that is moving to carbon-free resources that our members are not permitted to build and offer such resources. United Power intends to continue to be a leader in storage technology, which helps Tri-State avoid peaks and high demand, allows Tri-State to reduce its carbon footprint and smooths our transmission congestion.

In sum, United Power wants a strong, responsive and low-cost partner in Tri-State and the freedom to support our members with low-cost, clean and reliable power. Tri-State should be leading the change to a new G&T structure to address the energy needs of the future and help its member cooperatives better serve the individuals and families on their lines.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or comments.

Modernization of the electric grid should not be the singular focus of spending in the United States, rather we should also be targeting our efforts and dollars at specific projects that will make the most immediate impacts. Billions are spent every year on upgrading the system and adding intelligence to the grid and are always balanced against the impacts on rates and customers. Even with unlimited checkbooks on transmission – California and Texas are great examples – system issues can occur.

As a country, we should dream big but equally critical are to make improvements that can have an immediate impact on improving the nation’s infrastructure. The vision of seven hundred and sixty-five megawatt lines crisscrossing the U.S. is a “BHAG” – big, hairy audacious goal – that should be pursued.

However, with even the simplest transmission project taking a decade or more, we should take some specific, short- and medium-term actions.

It is also important to realize while permitting is slow, money is currently available to invest in transmission. The hang up is in assuring the line will be used and commitments made to guarantee the offtake of power. In other words, if no demand backed by financial arrangements, no construction. So, what projects do I believe can and should be done today?

Rebuild the seven AC/DC ties between the Eastern and Western grid. At a cost of roughly thirty million, this project could be complete in less than eighteen months.

Expand the Mead Substation at Hoover Dam into a renewable energy hub. This project will take between twenty-four to thirty-six months to complete. It is at the base of the El Dorado Valley, connects to California, and is the ideal spot for a robust hub.

Complete the Intertie Project started in 1964. In forty-eight months or less, the two hundred and seventy-five miles of transmission could be built that would loop the Pacific Northwest across the west and into the Southwest Power Pool.

Widen our focus and fund technology that benefits the nation and not just a single region. Concentrate those efforts on grid cybersecurity, as well as advanced system sensing to anticipate and avoid issues.

Another key area is to create a cohesive national effort to enhance wildfire tools and technology, including the expansion of right-of-way tree clearing. Encourage or standardize the use of coated cables, especially in areas when undergrounding is limited by terrain or cost.

Create an incentive structure that supports our end goals for improvements in the grid. Pay higher incentives for the power solutions that are really needed: pay a higher rate of return for lines that serve grids wider than a single state, quit paying for redundant infrastructure, and guarantee offtake as a fundamental component of the incentive structure.

Create real markets that span time zones and weather conditions and empower those entities to support. This should also include an RTO to coordinate offshore wind and provide the trading and management platform.

Finally, recognize that transmission is best suited to fix the growing energy divide. The digital divide is often spoken of in our country when the energy divide is an even greater one to navigate for underserved or unserved communities. The “haves” can afford solar panels and storage, while the “have nots” are paying the price. The haves can create microgrids – which serve a purpose – but also serve to create a balkanized electrical system.

Our current business models hang on an engineering measurement – the kilowatt/megawatt hour paradigm. This paradigm is no longer valid when the haves can move their energy supply off the grid for a portion of the day while the have nots pay the carrying costs. We need to move beyond a simple engineering focus on our grid and the delivery of power and understand the far-reaching effects being created with our inherently uneven system.

The question to be asking is how can we effectively grow our grid to realize all the intrinsic potential, and bring all our citizens along to enjoy those benefits? Let us dream for the future and act for today.

This article recently appeared in August 2021 Public Utilities Fortnightly. Read the original article here.