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�I ogy and green jobs."Boulder customers cur- future. They used a tool called Homer En- porting electricity as needed, but we di' rently pay Xcel more than $100 million per ergy, a spin-off model from NREL, that has want to do that initially because we wantel j' year for their power. Visionaries regard this been used in numerous countries and many to see what the native behavior of our systen as a potentially powerful revenue stream for diverse situations to model generation mix. would be." :I local renewable development and entrepre- "Homer Energy was originally designed "What we found was that we could run neural activity. for islands,for microgrids,but it has become system at rate parity with Xcel using a gen Rfl®o7eUng the new eys era—In the more and more sophisticated," said Weav- eration mix of 40 percent renewable and 6( first half of 2011, the city undertook two er. "You can put in any kind of generation, percent natural gas,"said Regelson. "This it parallel efforts to model the feasibility of a specifying heat rate,fuel cost,and emissions; itself could reduce greenhouse gas emission; more self-directed electric utility, one with and in the case of renewables,historic wind by two-thirds. If Xcel keeps raising rates the the freedom of action of a municipal util- and solar data for 8,760 hours during the way they have over the last four years, wf ity. The city hired consultants to look at year.You give it the options,ask it to test all think we can get to 60 to 70 percent renew- an earlier feasibility study by R.W. Beck to possible combinations, and come up with ables at rate parity.It comes down to the face see if it still applied. It did, and the analy- the least cost system." that the price of renewables continues to fall sis showed that the city could create its own Weaver and his team began with an all while the price of coal is going up." utility with an average decrease in rates of 7 natural gas system to establish a base line A c0ose vote—The models were en- to 10 percent. for emissions reduction, which resulted in couraging and the city's goals were clear; The second—and in some ways more an immediate 50 percent decrease in car but a true determination of rate parity rigorous—study of renewable potential was bon emissions from the current mix. "Once would require accurate assessment of initial undertaken by a citizen's group that came we got that in line, we just began to walk capital costs. Estimates of these costs var- !' to a similar conclusion. Sam Weaver, presi- down the carbon emissions constraints. ied greatly, with Xcel and the city far apart dent and CEO of Cool Energy Inc.convened First, we brought in wind and took that to on their initial figures. The cost of acquiring j an all-volunteer core team of six to eight a natural saturation point, then we brought the distribution system would be a matter individuals and a larger advisory group of in solar,and finally storage. We could make of negotiation with Xcel or condemnation around 35 people to explore scenarios of the the model even more sophisticated by im- proceedings in the state courts; the cost of n E At Revere,we engineer controls for an incredible range of power applications.From 15 kV switchgear to bulk tl; , material handling and complete motor control centers for I municipal,industrial and energy applications. Controll yQuuir systems. r . Conntlroll you it business. ! NAES-the dead gng pvouMerr of serrWces to the i Ipowerr cgenr va-don 6ndustkrryo NAES is growing its business by delivering innovative arud gift, customer-centric services to the generation industry. When ' r'' I , safety,compliance,quality,reliability,schedule,and efficiency make a difference,look to NAES. Energy PeopleMal<ingEnargyFacilitiesWork -- Contact NAES at 4 25.961 A700 or email sales @naes.com www.naes.corn Follow us on Linkedin,Facebook and Twitter @NAESCorp IS Public Power dune 2012 PublicPowerMedia.orcg