PRPA to conduct listening sessions about energy mix

FORT COLLINS — Platte River Power Authority will host a series of listening sessions for residents and businesses in Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland to hear viewpoints on PRPA’s plans for the development of future electrical power sources.

PRPA wants to know how residents of the four owner communities want the utility to power their homes and businesses. The events will begin Platte River’s resource planning process. Input will be incorporated into the 2020 Integrated Resource Plan, which will become the roadmap for meeting the energy needs of the communities over the next 10 years. The plan will take more than a year to produce and will be submitted to federal regulators in 2020 through the Western Area Power Administration.

“Public meetings are an excellent way to listen to what people have to say about energy,” said Jason Frisbie, Platte River’s general manager and CEO, “and we hope to hear from residents and businesses from each of our owner communities.”

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Platte River is developing the 2020 resource plan earlier than anticipated because of growing community interest in renewable resources and recent changes to Platte River’s resource portfolio, including the addition of 150 megawatts of new wind power and an expected 20 megawatts of new solar (plus battery storage) capacity. Frisbie said that all resource planning will be conducted in context with Platte River’s core pillars of system reliability, environmental responsibility and financial sustainability.

Following is a complete schedule of events. All are 6-9 p.m. on the dates noted:

Oct. 25, Hilton Fort Collins, 425 W. Prospect Road, Fort Collins.

Nov. 1, Estes Park Town Hall, 170 MacGregor Ave., Estes Park.

Nov. 5, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont.

Nov. 15, Embassy Suites Hotel, 4705 Clydesdale Parkway, Loveland.

During the meetings, participants can take part in a survey to capture opinions about Platte River’s future generating mix and speak with Platte River’s leadership concerning important energy resource issues. For those unable to attend in person, Platte River will stream the events live from its Facebook page.

“We are conducting a formal survey, as part of the IRP process because we want to do more than what is required and because we know how important energy issues are to our owner communities,” said Frisbie in a press release.

Residents may also visit Platte River’s IRP microsite to download key documents associated with the plan as they become available and follow Platte River on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on Platte River’s 2020 IRP process.