Plan includes possible natural gas
The Platte River Power Authority Board of Directors voted Thursday to approve an “integrated resource plan” that PRPA staf f said will place it on the path toward achieving at least a 90% reduction from 2005 carbon emissions levels.
The plan has drawn criticism from some environmental advocacy groups because — while it would eventually not rely on any coal-fired energy production — it leaves the door open for possible use of some natural gas-fueled energy generators as the Platte River Power Authority moves toward 100% reliance on such non-fossil-fuel energy sources as wind, solar and hydro power.
The Platte River Power Authority is the wholesale electricity generation and transmission provider that provides electric energy and services to its four owner communities — Loveland, Longmont, Estes Park and Fort Collins — who deliver that power to their municipal utility customers.
Thursday’s vote for the integrated resource plan was 7-1, with Loveland Mayor Jacki Marsh casting the only dissenting vote.
Longmont’s two PRPA board members, Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley and Longmont Power and Communications Executive Director David Hornbacher, voted for the plan, as did the two board members from Fort Collins, the two from Estes Park, and Loveland Water and Power Director Joe Bernosky.
In recent meetings, PRPA board members and staf f had discussed investing money in natural gas-fueled reciprocating internal combustion engines, also known as RICE generators, which could supply the authority with a regular power source if non-carbon generation and storage technologies aren’t where they need to be, or are found to be too expensive, by the end of this decade.
“We’re pleased with the path produced by this IRP (integrated resource plan), but there’s more work to be done,” Jason Frisbie, general manager and CEO of Platte River, said in a statement in a PRPA news release.
“We will continue taking the steps needed on our journey to achieve a 100% non-carbon energy mix,” Frisbie said.
Frisbie noted that two additional integrated IRP processes will be conducted before 2030, which PRPA said in the news release “will provide greater clarity concerning the attainment of a 100% noncarbon energy mix.”
PRPA said in its news release that 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 strong system reliability and low cost.
Loveland Mayor Marsh had already said, prior to Thursday’s PRPA board meeting, that “I don’t want to open the door for adding more carbon fuels unless it’s clear that there is no choice.”
Marsh said in a Thursday night interview that the integrated resource plan doesn’t have to be presented to the federal Western Area Power Administration until next year, and that this year’s presidential election — if the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win — could lead to more attention to climatechange response policies and additional research into renewable energy technologies.
Marsh said she did not expect PRPA to achieve a definite path toward its non-carbon goals this year, but “we still have 10 years to get to that (PRPA) goal” of noncarbon energy.
“It’s too soon to move the goal posts” on that, she said.
Longmont Mayor Bagley said in a Sept. 25 Times-call guest opinion that the then-under-consideration IRP that got board approval on Thursday “calls for new natural gas-fired generation, used when wind and solar energy aren’t available.”
Bagley affirmed that position in a Thursday night interview, saying he hopes the technology advancements that are anticipated may eclipse the need for new natural gas facilities but that such advancements do not yet exist.
Bagley said the plan adopted Thursday “is the only flexible way” of getting to, or at least close to, the PRPA’S and Longmont’s goals of 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2030, with the technology, storage capacity and transmission systems that are available by then.
In the meantime, Platte River and its member municipal power utilities need to be able to make sure that people in the four communities can stay warm and keep the lights on without having to pay major increases in electric rates, Bagley said.
He liked the possibility of having natural gas production as a “worst-case scenario” backup such as fliers having parachutes available if their plane encounters problems and they must bail out before it crashes.
“It simply is a precaution,”
Bagley said.
Gov. Jared Polis applauded the PRPA board’s adopted plan in a Thursday night news release, saying it is “the most ambitious level of pollution reduction that any large energy provider in the state has announced, and it sets a new bar for utilities.”
“Today’s decision will save Platte River Power Authority customers money with low cost renewables while maintaining reliability, and this type of leadership from our electric utilities is a critical part of our statewide efforts to reduce pollution and fight the climate crisis,” Polis said in a statement.
More information about the Platte River Power Authority’s Integrated Resource Plan can be viewed at prpa.org/irp/.