Utilities striving to meet demand

2002 summer put strain on region

FORT COLLINS — As the number of people living in Colorado multiplies, the strain on the energy grid grows. And during the record-setting summer of 2002, the strain is increased when people run their air conditioners. Luckily, Colorado electricity providers are working to ensure the power stays on when the weather gets hot.

According to Steve Roalstad, spokesman for Xcel Energy, the provider added 300 megawatts this summer to its supply to help make sure the lights stay on.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Exploring & expressing grief

Support groups and events, as well as creative therapies and professional counseling, are all ways in which Pathways supports individuals dealing with grief and loss.

“One megawatt of power is enough for 1,000 houses,” Roalstad said. “We had to join the power with transmission lines to hook the power to the grid.”

The power was added just in time to handle the summer’s peak demand so far on July 18, 2002. On that day, Xcel provided 6,034 megawatts of power to Coloradans around the state.

A series of peaks in July

Setting a new peak demand record is not unusual. Six all-time peaks were set this year alone before July 18. Five occurred between July 1 and July 18.

Before the start of this summer the record peak demand was 5,754 megawatts, set on July 30, 2001. Based on that, Xcel projected the 2002 peak would be 5,812 megawatts.

The actual peak was 3.8 percent higher than the forecast.

According to Xcel’s summer fact sheet, in Colorado, Xcel has a total electricity system capacity of 6,561 megawatts. Just under 4,000 megawatts are produced by the company’s own generating plants with another 2,600 purchased from other sources.

Xcel is not the only utility provider feeling a summer strain. The story is similar in Fort Collins and other areas in Northern Colorado.

According to Bill Bray, acting electric-system engineering manager for city of Fort Collins utilities, the city plans for an annual increase in usage.

“We plan for an increase between 3.5 percent and 5 percent each year,” Bray said. “May caught us off guard because the weather was hot earlier and the air conditioners came on.”

Platte River Power Authority provides power to Fort Collins, Estes Park, Loveland and Longmont. The company sees similar issues with power arise summer after summer.

“Each year we tend to have a new record of peak usage,´ said John Bleem, division manager of customer services. “In the past we tended to have a winter peak, then the summer and winter peaks would leap frog each other, and now we see a significant increase in the summer peak.”

According to Bleem, electricity usage is separated into three segments, and when all three are operating at full steam a peak is reached.

Peaks hit on weekdays

“We serve three main segments: large industry, small to medium businesses and residential customers,” Bleem said. “They usually use power at different times, but around 5 p.m. on weekdays, all three use power. Large industries use power most of the time, but residential users are getting home and turning on their air conditioners and businesses are still operating. While business is coming down, residential is going up.”

“Essentially, we hit peaks on hot weekdays,” Bleem said. “Because small businesses aren’t running, use is 20 percent lower on weekends.”

Is increased utility usage just a passing trend or is it a new reality?

Ron Carey, general manager of Poudre Valley REA, said the increased usage is a sign of the times and is here to stay.

“Having to monitor growth is a continuing problem,” Carey said. “Northern Colorado has had more growth in the past four to five years than the area is traditionally used to.”

The electricity co-op is continually striving to meet the growing needs of the area. It provides power to expanding Windsor and Greeley.

“All new houses seem to have air conditioning. They just don’t seem to be building houses without it,” Carey said. “People used to understand that in Colorado it cools down at night. They would tolerate the heat during the day with this understanding. Now, when it is moderately uncomfortable, people turn on their air conditioners.”

One problem of keeping up with growth is that substations don’t build themselves.

“We can’t build a substation overnight.” Carey said. “And people don’t seem to be fond of having distribution lines in their back yards. So, we have to bury lines underground. Then, there are right-of-way issues to deal with. And we still end up with a lot of lines overground.”