co-op will be 90% renewable generation by end of this year
The growing storage capacity “basically behaves like gas turbines would on a normal power grid,” Hannegan said, with the ability to in effect turn them on at will to send instant power to members.
Buying portions of projects spread geographically across the state is intentional for the renewables transition, Hannegan said. “It’s less likely that all of those resources are going to be out of commission all at once,” he said.
While Holy Cross announced a rate increase in February, it says residential rates are still lower than any other Colorado co-op, and that far lower prices for renewable generation projects have helped keep costs low.
Holy Cross already takes that concept a step further, not by raising peak prices but by “paying” customers for cutting back on their normal peak use, Hannegan said. That payback rate will increase in April to $1.50 per kilowatt hour of savings.
Holy Cross also supports rooftop solar, home battery storage, EV hookups, and community solar projects.
Holy Cross fulfilling its members’ mandate to expand renewables advanced quickly in 2023, through the following projects:
- Bronco Plains 2 wind farm near Flagler contributes 150MW of its 200MW capacity to Holy Cross in winter months, supplying 30% of Holy Cross customer needs. The project was built by the for-profit energy company NextEra Energy Resources.
- Hunter Solar near Bennett in Arapahoe County will divide up 75MW of panel power, with Holy Cross taking 30MW, or enough for a few thousand households. The rest of the power goes to the CORE Electric Cooperative, serving 176,000 members in rural areas surrounding metro Denver.
- High Mesa Solar and Storage at Parachute brings 10MW of panels and 20MW of storage, an all-important growth area for utilities switching to renewables. The battery array can dispatch power at night, during peak demand or on days when sun and wind aren’t producing adequate supplies.
- Mamm Creek Solar and Storage brings the same 10MW of panels and 20MW of storage to the Rifle area.
