PRPA completes resource plan, path toward 100% noncarbon generation
FORT COLLINS — After two years of public discussions and surveys, numerous studies and energy-mix modeling, the Platte River Power Authority board of directors has approved its 2020 integrated resource plan.
The plan, required by the Western Area Power Administration, requires IRPs from its members every five years in order to maintain long-term hydropower contracts with the federal government. The plan will also serve as its baseline for future energy planning and resource acquisition as the utility attempts to reach a 100% noncarbon-power generating future.
“We’re pleased with the path produced by this IRP but there’s more work to be done,” Jason Frisbie, general manager and CEO of Platte River, said in a written statement. “We will continue taking the steps needed on our journey to achieve a 100% noncarbon energy mix.”
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The IRP studied multiple options to achieve 100% noncarbon and selected what it called Portfolio 2. This path eliminates coal generation but maintains some natural-gas generation, along with wind and solar, in order to hold down costs while maintaining reliability.
PRPA is the wholesale power supplier for its owner cities: Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont and Estes Park. Its primary source of energy has been a coal-fired power plant, Rawhide, located north of Fort Collins.
The 2020 IRP places Platte River on the path to achieve a minimum of 90% carbon emissions reduction from 2005 levels, based on current technology as well as anticipated advancements. The plan enables Platte River to reduce emissions further should improvements in renewable and energy-storage technologies enable a 100% noncarbon energy mix while maintaining system reliability and low cost, the utility said.
PRPA’s Resource Diversification Policy, created prior to the IRP, sets milestones on the way toward noncarbon goal achievement. Those milestones include participation in an energy market, the integration of distributed energy resources, improved integration of the transmission and distribution grids, and greater overall investment in energy-delivery systems and technologies.
In December 2019, Platte River and partner utilities announced joint participation in the Western Energy Imbalance Market, which gives PRPA access to noncarbon energy resources elsewhere in the West, and gives other utilities access to Platte River resources as energy needs fluctuate.
“We continue to make significant strides toward our long-term goal largely due to the direction from and engagement by our board members,” Frisbie said. “In addition to setting policy, each member is directly involved in work necessary to drive our energy transformation.”
Additional information is available on the utility’s website.