Dreyspring, the retiring LPEA CEO, addressed a variety of topics concerning the electric utility during his informative talk. 

His first topic was of near-term significance: the cooperative’s annual members meeting, to be held Thursday May 2, 2019 at 6:30 pm in the Fort Lewis College Concert Hall.  Current board elections end at the meeting.  Candidates running for the local seat on the board are Holly Metzler and Michael Whiting.

 
Mike’s remaining topics had a longer-term focus, dealing broadly with the subject of energy sources.  Context was provided in a brief history: LPEA’s origins trace to the New Deal Rural Electrification Administration.  The cooperative was formed in 1939, and it became one of several cooperatives that participated in power generation through membership in Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (itself a cooperative). 
 
Tri-State members deliver electric power to their own consumer-members in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico.  According to its website, Tri-State generates about one third of its electricity from renewable sources at present: it has 13 coal-fired generating facilities and eight wind or solar renewable generating facilities.
 
Power generation is capital intensive, so to provide revenue commitments required by lenders, Tri-States’ utility members have all entered into long-term contracts to buy the power produced by it.   Mike reported that with the exception of a “5% local sources allowance,” LPEA currently is committed to buying from Tri-State all of the electricity needed to supply its members under a contract that extends to 2050.
 
However, Mike reported that LPEA has been considering the possibility of using other sources for supplying its members with power.  A study committee recently concluded that doing so may be economically feasible, depending on the terms of essentially an exit fee that would need to be negotiated with Tri-State.
 
Mike discussed briefly also advances in technology that may help with the feasibility of turning to power generation alternatives.  For example, he mentioned advances in compensating for weather variables like wind levels and sunshine volume by use in real time of computer algorithms to adjust production at renewable facilities, and shift between them.  (Another area of recent advances not specifically mentioned by Mike, but reported in the news media, is the rapid improvement in battery electric storage capacity, which has begun to attract major utility company investments).  These advances increase the efficiency of renewable generating capacity, and thus reduce its cost.
 
A technology of particular interest in Pagosa Springs, is biomass electric power generation, which would produce power from forest waste.  Mike said that LPEA has considered the possibility of biomass production, and though no commitment has been made as yet to using it, he suggested it has interesting potential.
 
Rotary’s Dave Richardson was in attendance at the meeting, and offered more information from the audience.  Biomass is championed by local businessman JR Ford, with whom Dave works.  The idea would involve thinning local forests (something needed for fire risk mitigation), conversion of the wood waste to a gas, and then use of the gas to fire generating turbines.  Burning the gas, Dave reported, would not produce carbon-dioxide, a major pollutant by-product of burning coal.  And, use of local wood waste would reduce pollution in transportation.
 
Mike said that overall, LPEA has formulated an objective of reducing by 2030 its total carbon emissions into the atmosphere by 50%, while maintaining cost competitiveness of the power supplied to members.  To achieve the objective, he said, LPEA wants to increase its use of renewable generating sources as much as possible.  In addition, it anticipates using electric vehicles in its service fleet, and incentivizing customer use of electric vehicles by rebates to cover the cost of home charger installations.
 

Dave Campbell then was called to the podium by President Shellie Peterson, to continue the apparent theme of spring rebirth by introducing new members Pat Tackett and Julie Walters.  Pat, sponsored by Marianne DeVooght, told us she has been a resident of Pagosa Springs for 36 years, and works in Citizens Bank (now TDK Bank).  Julie, sponsored by Lisa Scott, said she had returned to Pagosa three years ago after an extended absence, and currently works for Bob Scott.  She is involved locally in hot air balloons.

 

Additional new members are pending, Dave reported.  More cabin fever effects, overcome?