Energy leaders from across Southwest Colorado will meet April 23 in Durango to discuss energy independence, power affordability and the impacts of climate change on the region’s electric supply.
A Thursday news release said the event, called CommunityPowerX, will be hosted by La Plata Electric Association and is meant to provide education about the state of the region’s rapidly evolving energy landscape.
The evening’s main event will be a panel discussion featuring LPEA CEO Chris Hansen; Hank Adair, utility director of the Farmington Electric Utility System; Jack Johnson, CEO of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association; and Luis Reyes, CEO of the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative.
“All four of us are in a very similar situation as we’re managing risk in the market, trying to keep prices affordable for our members and reduce emissions,” Hansen said. “There are similar puzzles that we’re all working on, and I thought it’d be really fun to bring in their expertise, have that conversation and to share that with the membership.”
Each of the utility providers face similar environmental and market challenges. However, like LPEA, which will leave its current supplier, Tri-State Transmission and Generation Association on April 1, each of the utilities is independent and focused on local power generation and partnerships with one another.
“(My colleagues and I) all came to the same conclusion that we want to be in a broader market,” Hansen said. “We want to be able to cooperate with our neighbors more, not be beholden to a single supplier, because that creates too much risk.”
Hansen said LPEA and FEES have a formal agreement to share power if either of co-op’s supplies are turned off in the event of, say, a wildfire. That, Hansen said, increases reliability and resilience in the region.
“If they need help, they can call us and vice versa, and we’re going to be a lot stronger together,” Hansen said.
That increase of reliability coincides with each power supplier’s transition to a more diverse energy portfolio, which lowers prices and reduces reliance on fossil fuels. That market is particularly volatile, Hansen said, as seen with the war in Iran causing oil prices to skyrocket.
“The war in Iran has focused people's minds on how fossil fuel commodity markets are very volatile, and the price can swing wildly and expose your membership to commodity price risk,” Hansen said.
Local electric projects such as the Vallecito hydroelectric dam or the Sunnyside Solar project have no exposure to global commodity markets, Hansen said. Building an energy portfolio that draws from renewable, local sources, as well as traditional fossil fuel sources, maximizes reliability and cost-effectiveness.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. April 23, with the panel discussion lasting from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
