Tri-State develops greenhouse gas management roadmap

As part of its ongoing, comprehensive operational risk identification and analysis strategy, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has developed a Greenhouse Gas Management Roadmap.  Tri-State submitted the document to the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office on June 5.

The roadmap is an external report on Tri-State’s continuing internal process to assess the association’s potential to manage the risks associated with possible constraints on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its multi-state system, as it develops the information, data, tools and technologies necessary to position itself to manage GHG emissions while continuing to affordably and reliably meet the demand and energy requirements of its 44 member distribution cooperatives.

“Tri-State’s success in meeting emission reduction goals will be heavily dependent upon the development of cost-effective energy and environmental technologies to address greenhouse gas emissions, as well as efficient technologies to manage electricity consumption,” said Tri-State executive vice president and general manager Ken Anderson.  “We have always included risks from potential GHG constraints in our resource planning strategy and analysis, and we will continue to do so as we evaluate our long-term resource planning options.”

Tri-State’s roadmap provides updates on numerous ongoing initiatives, including:

• Energy efficiency, renewable energy and system efficiency programs
• Studies on end-use efficiency and demand-side management; carbon dioxide footprint, sequestration and monetization; and generation technology selection
• Technology research, development and demonstration projects

“Our roadmap demonstrates that Tri-State is engaged in a number of specific activities, programs and initiatives that can address potential greenhouse gas emission constraints,” Anderson said.  “These are the primary areas that we feel can be the most effective in addressing the issue at hand, not only in Colorado, but across our entire four-state service territory.”

With considerable uncertainty in public policies, emerging technologies and the developing GHG marketplace, the next step for Tri-State will be to develop the appropriate information to determine the optimal short and long-term actions to address GHG emissions.  This roadmap is the first step toward identifying a specific timeline and targets for managing GHG emissions.

“The results from specific actions identified in the roadmap will help us develop information that will shape our approach to resource planning and modeling, assessments and analysis,” Anderson said.  “We’ll continue to identify specific actions to address GHG emissions and the impacts of those actions on our ability to continue to provide an affordable and reliable source of electricity to our membership.

“Of course, as we consider the full range of tools, technologies and market opportunities to manage GHG emissions, we’ll continue to maintain full compliance with all local, state and federal energy and environmental laws and regulations,” Anderson noted. 

Based in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Tri-State is the wholesale power supplier to 44 electric cooperatives and public power districts in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska.  The member distribution systems serve nearly 593,000 consumer-meters, which translates to a population of approximately 1.4 million end-use consumers.

Updated: June 9, 2009