May 2009
A Vision of Connection
by Phaedra Greenwood
Luis Reyes, chief executive officer of Kit Carson Electric Cooperative
in Taos, has a vision. A vision of the future, and it’s green.
“I think there needs to be more local generation of clean renewable energy. Something added onto your home or business to generate clean energy and help cut the cost of your electric bill. Of course there is value in large-scale operations, but people want to personalize things. We want more control over where our energy comes from and how we use it. Coal and nuclear power have a place, but I would like to see us create a green job work force for exportable energy—a “smart” green grid.
All our co-op’s electricity comes from Tri-State Generation and Transmission (Tri-State) on a long journey from generating plants in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming to local substations, and eventually to homes, schools, farms, and businesses. Right now about 70 percent of our power comes from coal, but things are changing. To regionalize renewable energy initiatives it is going to take partnership, strategic alliances, storage technologies, and a new kind of solar panel,” Reyes says.
Reyes imagines the day when people driving hybrids will stop at filling stations during the night, when the cost is lower, to charge their vehicle’s batteries.
For instance, Tri-State, located in Westminster, CO, will build a photovoltaic array on 250 acres on the Vermijo Ranch near Cimarron. First Solar, a Tempe, AZ-based company, will construct The Cimarron I Solar Project near a Tri-State transmission voltage line where it will easily connect to the grid.
“It’s a big project—30 megawatts,” says David Spradlin, manager of Springer Electric Cooperative headquartered in Springer. “That’s almost a mile—500,000 panels.” The facility will provide enough energy to serve the equivalent of 9,000 homes. The plant will be in partial operation by mid 2010, and fully operational by the end of that year. “Solar is incredibly simple,” Spradlin says. “All you do is add more panels to the layout.”
The Cimarron I Solar Project is the largest photovoltaic project by an electric cooperative and one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world. “Tri-State’s development of the facility in our service territory benefits all of its distribution cooperative members in meeting our consumer’s renewable energy and environmental goals,” Spradlin says.
Electric cooperatives in the state are working to meet a renewable portfolio standard of five percent by 2015 and 10 percent by 2020.
Concentrate Solar Power
Tri-State is also participating in a solar research project with other regional utilities. Four utility-sized plants, one in Nevada and three in California, are using reflectors to concentrate solar power (CSP) and heat to generate electricity more efficiently. Tri-State is partnering with the Electric Power Research Institute to study the possible use of CSP at the coal-based power plant in Prewitt. The plant is in Continental Divide Electric Cooperative’s service area headquartered in Grants.
The process involves introducing steam that has been generated by a solar thermal field into the conventional power plant’s steam cycle to reduce some of the coal required to generate electricity. The beauty of it is a coal-based plant can be retrofitted to include concentrated solar energy without the expense of siting a new plant and power block.
Richard Shirley, manager of the cooperative, says he is encouraged by Tri-State’s participation in the project. “While I believe we’re going to continue to rely on coal-based power plants for a large portion of our electricity supply, we obviously have to look beyond fossil fuels to other, more sustainable forms of energy.”
According to research, Tri-State purchases green power on the open market from a number of different generating plants including wind, solar, and small hydroelectric and biomass projects.
In the eastern plains of New Mexico and south to Deming, electric cooperatives tap into geothermal energy and wind power. Stand-alone wind turbines are typically used for pumping water or for communications, but homeowners, farmers and ranchers in windy areas can also use wind turbines to reduce their electric bills.
Reyes says, “Nobody I’ve talked to wants to burn coal. It wouldn’t be at all hard to build a solar collecting plant here in Taos. In an area where we have 320 days a year of sunshine, solar is the best source of energy. It’s clean and it’s not an eyesore.”
Green Jobs
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) is working with the University of New Mexico-Taos (UNM-Taos), which is a member of KCEC, to help create broadband expansion and construction. The university provides Green Jobs Training for plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, contractors, photovoltaic specialists, and water catchment technicians.
It also offers professional certification for architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, project managers, appraisers, finance officers, and building inspectors and contractors. Through training and subsequent construction, UNM-Taos anticipates creating at least 5,000 jobs.
The university and KCEC are also working with the Town of Taos on a government initiative in sustainable fuels (biofuels) to develop and implement clean energy bus service to and from the campus. Reyes imagines the day when people driving hybrids will stop at filling stations during the night, when the cost is lower, to charge their vehicle’s batteries.
The Solar Complex
In partnership with UNM-Taos, KCEC has received $5 million for construction of a solar photovoltaic project on five acres of the Klauer Campus. The cooperative will provide the solar panels through a federal partnership, and UNM-Taos will provide the land. The Solar Complex of 5,000 panels should be completed this spring, and will produce 500 KW of energy, enough to operate the whole campus for some time. Any additional energy will feed back into the electric grid for other members of the cooperative to use. Reyes foresees that this will be one of many solar arrays to be built. Each community could have its own CSP utility to tap into and reduce energy costs, he says.
Dr. Kate O’Neill, executive director of UNM-Taos says, “Throughout history the indigenous and traditional architecture of the region has been based on an understanding of the influence of the sun in all aspects. Now we’re ready to apply this wisdom to the 21st century through state of the art sustainable principles and practices.”
For years now, UNM-Taos has offered courses in green building, O’Neill points out. Sometimes these are stand-alone classes and sometimes they are standard building courses with a “green” component. Currently, the university is working with Taos High School to provide courses in solar panel technology and installation.
Reyes predicts by year 2015, 10 percent of KCEC’s total energy is going to come from solar power. “The Chinese are creating solar arrays in rural areas and selling power to local markets. We surely have the same smarts as the Chinese. We may be able to manufacture and install solar panels, and develop and maintain a green economy using the resources we have right here in Taos.”
Distributed Energy Technologies
The challenge to reduce global pollution and become energy independent is not just about producing clean energy and using it wisely. It’s also about how efficiently we transport energy from the power source to substations and capacitors, and then distribute it to cooperative members. The key to a constant, reliable energy delivery system that can handle peak demand is distributed energy technologies (DEs). These are small, modular power-generating technologies that can be combined with energy management and storage systems to improve the operation of the energy delivery system, even if those technologies are not connected to an electric grid.
Reyes points out that although peak demand for electricity is seldom constant, it’s predictable. “People are creatures of habit. They usually eat at the same time and turn on the TV about the same time every evening.”
Renewable energy such as wind and solar power is intermittent. The ability to store energy from renewable sources would allow the supply to more closely match the demand. Technology for storing intermittent renewable energy is being researched and developed. “We have to change our habits and be more aware,” he says. “Turn off the TV or the computer. You think because the computer is “sleeping” it’s not using a lot of energy, but it is.”
In the future these DEs will be controlled by “smart” or “intelligent” computers that track energy demand. “They will know when a storm is coming, when to store solar power and switch to conventional energy use. All appliances are going to have intelligence. You will be able to start dinner before you get home by turning on your microwave with the use of your cell phone. Intelligent machines can help manage home life through technology,” Reyes says.
Smart Meters
A smart grid would include automatic demand-side distribution and outage restoration, new electric infrastructure, and improved energy efficiency. KCEC is installing smart meters in the Taos area so that computers can read them directly, instead of having employees drive to each meter and read them one at a time.
Farmers’ Electric Cooperative, located in Clovis, is currently replacing its first-generation of mechanical Automated Meter Reading (AMR) meters with new versions that are all electronic. “These electronic meters provide more substantial information and cost half the price of those purchased in 1997,” says Lance Adkins, general manager at the cooperative.
Unlike the mechanical meters, which have a spinning disc, these meters have a digital display like a calculator. The faster the digits flash, the more energy utilized. The electric cooperative’s computer system conducts meter readings on single-phase accounts on a daily basis. “The meter is one little piece of the smart grid,” says Adkins.
Broadband Communication
A goal Reyes would like to accomplish is a good broadband communications system and network developed in Taos. Reyes explains there are several benefits to building broadband fiber/wireless access.
These include making homes and businesses more energy efficient which could help reduce the carbon footprint on the planet, improving medical and home health care, contributing to economic development by creating green jobs, and improving homeland security.
“Kit Carson Electric Cooperative is working with the national labs to help us integrate these proposed changes, to get them to work smoothly. When we have an economy like this, during a crisis you’re going to see a revolution in technology,” he comments.
“There’s a big focus on policy makers to create a better grid because we can’t build new transmission lines. If we develop a broadband here, the green jobs and gross receipts all benefit the local community,” Reyes says.
The vision that Reyes foresees, is certainly making the connection now.
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