Tri-State celebrates 60 years in the cooperative spirit (part 2)

Published on May 18, 2012 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Read part one of Powering the West’s look back at the first 60 years of Tri-State.

By the late 1970s, Tri-State had embarked on two major power project investments that to this day comprise more than half of the association’s owned baseload capacity. Craig Station, which at that time was operated by Colorado-Ute, completed its third unit in 1984 and Laramie River Station, operated by Basin Electric, completed a similar three-unit coal-based facility in 1982.

By the late 1970s construction of what would become Tri-State's flagship generating station was in full swing. Today, about 300 employees work at Craig Station.

The 1980s brought some of the G&T’s greatest challenges, not the least of which was an economic downturn that reduced member growth and demand dramatically,  just when its new baseload units were coming on line.

To generate revenue for the power that was temporarily not required by its members, the G&T launched a progressive marketing strategy to sell the new generation from Craig and LRS by seeking out other utilities, aligning itself with regional power pools and tapping into outside energy markets. That strategy paid off and by 1984 Tri-State reported positive margins and dramatically improved its financial picture.

The association also faced a landmark legal challenge during the mid-1980s, with Pacific Power & Light’s attempt to buy out former Tri-State member Shoshone River Power (Cody, Wyo.). The dispute brought into question the validity of the all-requirements contracts that Tri-State holds with its member systems.

Many industry leaders and proponents of consumer-owned power were concerned that the future of electric co-ops might hang in the balance if the sellout by the co-op was allowed to take place. It took nearly four years, but a settlement favorable to Tri-State was reached in 1989. Continue reading ‘Tri-State celebrates 60 years in the cooperative spirit (part 2)’

Tri-State marks 60 years of service this week (part 1)

Published on May 17, 2012 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By most measures Tri-State is looking pretty good for a 60-year-old. The G&T’s official birthday is this Saturday, May 19. (Editor’s note: As an employee who has been around for more than half of those years, I can say without hesitation that the transformation during just the last few decades has been nothing short of amazing.)

Tri-State dedicated its first transmission line in 1966.

But, that’s not surprising when you consider that the mindset and the vision of the people who banded together to form the association back in the early 1950s has never wavered in the face of a lot of daunting challenges over the years. Despite all the growth and new assets that the association has accumulated since then, it still comes down to the Tri-State people, who have carried forward that same founding vision and commitment to the membership that continues to make this a unique and successful organization.

Humble beginnings

Tri-State was formed in 1952 as an administrator of electric co-op contracts with no real assets to step in for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), which had recently announced that it would no longer be able to meet all of the co-ops’ power requirements as it had in the past.  In light of the decree, Tri-State was formed by 26 electric co-ops and public power districts in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming to secure generation beyond what the federal government was willing to provide.  However, Tri-State would not take on that role of power generator for nearly another quarter of a century. Continue reading ‘Tri-State marks 60 years of service this week (part 1)’

Board approves Nebraska line upgrade

Published on May 16, 2012 in General and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: .

Late this year, Tri-State will begin rebuilding the 15-mile, Ogallala-Roscoe-Elsie Tap line in western Nebraska.

At Tri-State’s monthly board meeting held last week in Westminster, directors authorized the association’s staff to execute contracts to upgrade the 15-mile, 115-kilovolt Ogallala-Roscoe-Elsie Tap transmission line in Keith County, Neb., to accommodate load growth and future electrical needs of the region served by Tri-State member Midwest Electric (Grant, Neb.).

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin before year-end and take approximately four months to complete. The scope of the work will be to remove the original line, which was constructed in the late 1960s, and rebuild it with new structures and a larger conductor.

The new conductor will have a higher thermal rating to provide increased electrical capacity and system reliability that is particularly vital during the summertime irrigation season. The existing 115-kV voltage of the line will remain the same.

The upgraded line will also be equipped with a new overhead optical ground wire that will provide operational communications between the substations on each end of the line.

Local 8th graders spend the day at Craig Station

Published on May 15, 2012 in General, Public Meetings and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Rick Carson, senior engineer at Craig Station, gives an infrared camera demonstration to 8th graders from Craig Middle School.

Craig Station hosted 70 boys from Craig Middle School last week in conjunction with the school’s annual career day. Tom Gilchrist, chemistry manager, and Rick Carson, senior engineer, helped coordinate the day’s events with assistance from Craig Station employees Bob Baca, Bryan Gale, Barry Barnes, Rick Johnson, Sue Sexton, Dana Gregory, Marv Weible and Tim Osborn.

While girls from the school spent the day with local businesswomen, the 8th grade boys and seven of their teachers took in informative presentations at the plant, including “Do You Want to Work at a Power Plant?” as well as demonstrations and a tour of both Craig Station and Trapper Mine. “The boys were very excited about it,” said Gilchrist. “It was good day.”

“Overall I think the students really enjoyed the trip out to the plant and mine,” said Julia Elliott, school counselor at Craig Middle School. “The tour guides were awesome.” Elliott noted that touring Trapper Mine helped the students make the connection of the plant’s fuel source and that the entire experience was very interesting for them. “It definitely opened some eyes – they were still talking about it the next day,” she said.

Tri-State provided 30 large pizzas for the boys’ lunch – all of which were reportedly devoured within 15 minutes.

Delta-Montrose Electric Assn. teaming up on local hydro project

Published on May 15, 2012 in Clean Energy, General and Renewable Energy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Tri-State member co-op Delta-Montrose Electric Association (Montrose, Colo.) is teaming up with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association to develop a local hydroelectric project. The two organizations plan to use the water coming through the Gunnison Tunnel, which currently irrigates the surrounding towns and will soon create electricity.

Final phase ramps up on Nucla-Sunshine project

Published on May 14, 2012 in General and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: .

With a little cooperation from Mother Nature, construction on one of the Rocky Mountain region’s highest transmission line projects should wrap up this fall – bringing a greatly improved level of electric service reliability to avalanche-prone areas near Telluride, Colo., and several other communities in the southwestern part of the state.

Conductor is pulled through overhead line structures as work continues for the third and final year of construction on the Nucla-Sunshine project.

Construction of the Nucla-Sunshine 115-kilovolt, 51-mile transmission line began in the spring of 2010. It is being built around some steep forested mountains, across canyons, high alpine meadows and rugged high altitude terrain that is only accessible to construction crews and equipment between April and October, when mountain snows subside.

In addition to the construction challenges brought by the weather and topography, another unique aspect of this project is that a total of 10 miles of the line will be buried underground on Wilson and Specie mesas to satisfy local landowner concerns.

The new line replaces a more than 60-year-old, 69-kV line owned by Tri-State member San Miguel Power Association (Nucla, Colo.). This line was no longer adequate to serve the electrical requirements of Telluride in the event that its primary 115-kV line failed due to avalanche or other extreme weather events.

Escalante station employees visit local middle school

Published on May 11, 2012 in General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

More than 200 Thoreau Middle School students attended career day, made possible in part by Tri-State.

Thoreau Middle School, located in northwest New Mexico, held its inaugural career day last week and three of Tri-State’s Escalante Station employees were on hand for the event. More than 200 sixth, seventh and eighth graders visited Tri-State’s table during the day-long event and learned about the diversity of jobs that the energy industry and Tri-State in particular has to offer.

“It was a worthwhile endeavor because many of the students grew up near the plant and were interested in learning about Escalante Station,” said Sherry Garcia, human resource specialist at the plant. “It’s great to have relationships with the local schools – we give tours to students ages 12 and up and many teachers take advantage of that,” she said. Continue reading ‘Escalante station employees visit local middle school’

Groundbreaking ceremony launches Wayne Child Substation

Published on May 9, 2012 in General and Public Meetings. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Wayne Child (center) participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking with other directors of the High West Energy board.

Colleagues, friends and family of long-time High West Energy (Pine Bluffs, Wyo.) and Tri-State director Wayne Child gathered May 3 to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new Tri-State substation just east of Cheyenne that will be named for the respected director. The Wayne Child Substation will be located south of the new Archer Development Complex currently being constructed by Laramie County and will provide electrical power to local customers and upgrade the reliability of the existing transmission line system. It will be constructed in two phases and will eventually occupy 30 acres.

Phase I will serve Tri-State member co-op High West Energy, meeting the load for the Archer Development Complex in 2012. It involves construction of an access road, a 5.5-acre distribution substation, a storm water detention pond and a 230-kilovolt ‘tie-line’ to the existing Archer Substation owned and operated by the Western Area Power Administration. “The Wayne Child Substation will provide the Laramie County Archer Complex with a very reliable energy source as well as providing backup to adjacent area substations for many years,” said Lloyd Sisson, engineering manager at High West Energy.

Phase II involves connecting Tri-State’s existing Laramie River Station to Story 345-kilovolt transmission line to increase system reliability and could begin as soon as 2014.

Continue reading ‘Groundbreaking ceremony launches Wayne Child Substation’

Japanese utility officials check out DMEA’s solar project

Published on May 8, 2012 in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: .

Following one of the biggest disasters involving nuclear energy in the world at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, two representatives of Japanese power utilities traveled to Montrose, Colo., recently to learn more about Tri-State member co-op Delta-Montrose Electric Association’s Community Solar Array program.

DMEA spokesman Tom Polikalas said the Japanese utilities are looking for ways to accelerate the rate at which they are integrating more renewable energy resources into their nation’s power grid.

The day I learned how the lights stay on

Published on April 27, 2012 in General. 0 Comments Tags: .

Editor’s note: The following article was written by the 9-year-old daughter of a Tri-State employee who, along with many other youngsters, participated in “Take Our Sons and Daughters To Work” day at Tri-State’s headquarters on April 26.

Kids of people who work at Tri-State got to be at work with their parents on Thursday, April 26, experiencing the world at Tri-State. This is a national event called Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work day. The event is to educate children around the country to see what their parents do for a living and teach them why work is important.

My day started with a meeting first thing in the morning to help plan the day. I got an assignment to write this story. Next, I took a tour of the operations center with other kids visiting Tri-State and saw how electricity is kept flowing in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

In the afternoon, I went on another tour of an area called energy markets. I learned how Tri-State gets just enough electricity to houses so people can turn on their lights, cook their meals, get Internet access and many other important things. Next, I went to a meeting and listened to a group of people plan how to make a new tool kit to help people use Tri-State’s electricity smarter.

I had a fun day and it seemed like the people working at Tri-State work hard and do their jobs well. I’m glad I got to experience Tri-State and learn how important electricity is to us. (The chocolate in the graphics department was a big bonus, too!)