Fort Collins renewable energy project completed

FORT COLLINS – The Fort Collins Renewable and Distributed Systems Integration project has been completed, according to the lead partners on the project.

The project was also known as the Fort ZED Jumpstart Project, and will set the stage for the implementation of the FortZED Zero Energy District. Fort ZED is a public-private partnership that has been working to develop a net-zero energy district within the City of Fort Collins.

Within the project grid, technical partners of the project — Spirae, Woodward and Brendle Group — worked to dispatch more than 4,000 kilowatts of distributed generation as well as 760 kilowatts of “dispatchable” load reduction.

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Platte River must prepare for the retirement of 431 megawatts (MW) of dispatchable, coal-fired generation by the end of the decade and address more frequent extreme weather events that can bring dark calms (periods when there is no sun or wind).

“The RDSI project demonstrated the capability of a smart grid, using dispatchable renewable energy and demand response to reduce peak demand,´ said Steve Catanach, Fort Collins utilities manager. “We demonstrated that distributed energy resources can be added to a grid while maintain power quality and reliability.”

The multi-year project was funded in part by the Department of Energy, and in 2010, became one of nine RDSI projects nationwide. At its completion, the Fort Collins project was among the highest performing of all the projects in complexity and outcomes.

The project reduced electrical-grid-system peak load demand by 20 percent within the Fort ZED district.