Platte River Power Authority hosts community listening sessions to map energy future

Steve Roalstad

Community listening sessions for residents and businesses planned

FORT COLLINS, Colo., October 16, 2018 – Residents and businesses in Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland are invited to help shape the future of energy in northern Colorado.

Platte River Power Authority will host a series of community listening sessions to take public input concerning the types of future energy resources that people want to power their homes and businesses. The events will be held to begin Platte River’s resource planning process. Input will be incorporated into the 2020 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which will become the roadmap for meeting the energy needs of our communities over the next 10 years. The plan will take more than a year to produce and will be submitted to federal regulators in 2020, through the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).

“Public meetings are an excellent way to listen to what people have to say about energy,” said Jason Frisbie, Platte River’s general manager and CEO, “and we hope to hear from residents and businesses from each of our owner communities.”

Platte River is developing the 2020 IRP earlier than anticipated because of growing community interest in renewable resources and recent changes to Platte River’s resource portfolio, including the addition of 150 megawatts of new wind power and an expected 20 megawatts of new solar (plus battery storage) capacity. Frisbie noted that all resource planning will be conducted in context with Platte River’s core pillars of system reliability, environmental responsibility and financial sustainability.

The first round of listening sessions will take place in late October through mid-November, with one being held in each community. Following is a complete schedule of events:

Oct. 25, Hilton Fort Collins, 425 W. Prospect Rd., Fort Collins, 6 – 9 p.m.

Nov. 1, Estes Park Town Hall, 170 MacGregor Ave., Estes Park, 170 MacGregor Ave., Estes Park

Nov. 5, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont, 6 – 9 p.m.

Nov. 15, Embassy Suites Hotel, 4705 Clydesdale Pkwy., Loveland, 6 – 9 p.m.

During the meetings, participants can take part in a survey to capture opinions about Platte River’s future generating mix and speak with Platte River’s leadership concerning important energy resource issues. For those unable to attend in person, Platte River will stream the event live from its Facebook page.

“We are conducting a formal survey, as part of the IRP process because we want to do more than what is required and because we know how important energy issues are to our owner communities,” noted Frisbie.

Residents are also encouraged to visit Platte River’s IRP microsite to download key documents associated with the IRP as they become available and follow Platte River on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on Platte River’s 2020 IRP process.

Platte River Power Authority is a not-for-profit wholesale electricity generation and transmission provider that delivers safe, reliable, environmentally responsible and competitively-priced energy and services to its owner communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland, Colorado for delivery to their utility customers.