United Power announced plans to construct its first commercial scale energy storage project.  Located in Firestone, CO and developed in collaboration with Chicago based SoCore Energy, the 4 MW / 16 MWh battery storage system will be the largest facility in the State of Colorado and one of the largest systems owned and operated by an electric co-op anywhere in the country.

“As one of the fastest growing co-ops in Colorado, United Power wants to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to integrating new technology that can help boost reliability and keep costs down.  Energy storage will play an important role in the grid of the future, and we’re excited to be starting now,” said John Parker, CEO of United Power.

United Power partnered with SoCore Energy to develop the project, which will be located at United Power’s west office on I-25, just south of Highway 119.  SoCore is a leading solar PV and energy storage developer with a special focus on serving rural electric cooperatives.  SoCore and United Power selected Tesla to supply the 4 MW / 16 MWh Powerpack system.

“SoCore worked closely with United Power to understand the objectives of the project, siting and design considerations, and performance requirements.  This has been a terrific partnership so far, and we’re looking forward to getting construction underway,” said SoCore President Rob Scheuermann.

The battery storage system will store energy generated in the overnight hours, when demand is low, and discharge it during peak hours to reduce demand.  Curbing peak demand will reduce costs and help improve the overall efficiency of United Power’s electric grid as it serves its more than 82,000 meters.

The Firestone system is the first of several energy storage projects that United Power will roll out, piloting an innovative “community battery” strategy, allowing users to purchase a share of the battery system’s output to directly reduce demand charges on their monthly electric bills.

“United Power was one of the first utilities in the country to experiment with the ‘community solar’ concept with our Sol Partners™ program, and now there are community solar projects all over the country.  ‘Community batteries’ are the next big trend,” said United Power’s New Business Director, Jerry Marizza.

SoCore Energy’s Scheuermann agrees.  “Community batteries allow co-ops and their members to address the demand components of the utility bill – the portion that can’t easily be addressed with solar energy alone.  Batteries provide opportunities to reduce costs, increase choices for co-ops and their members while improving resiliency of the grid.”

Construction on the system is expected to begin in the first half of 2018.

2017 Capital Credit Retirement to Distribute $5 Million

The United Power board approved a retirement this year of $5 million dollars, and that means that every member will get to share in the cooperative’s continuing good financial health. As the 11th consecutive year United Power has retired capital credits to its members, this $5 million dollar amount continues the commitment to sharing the performance of the cooperative with its members.

United Power, as a cooperative, is a not-for-profit operation. This means the co-op doesn’t work to earn margins for shareholders, but works for the members. Every year the United Power Board of Directors assesses the cooperative’s financial condition, and determines if and how much the cooperative can afford to return to the members.

Capital credits are based on two factors: how much electricity members use, and how long members have been a cooperative member. Essentially, the more power a member uses and the longer the member is part of the cooperative, the larger the share of each capital retirement. Each capital credit account represents a member’s investment into the cooperative, and those investment dollars are used over time to make capital improvements to the electric system.

“Capital credits illustrate one of the ways that cooperatives are very different from other utilities,” said John Parker, Interim CEO. “Our goal is to provide reliable electricity at economical rates, and with our members providing the support for our growing system we can meet the need for new service and keep rates economical. Every time a member receives a capital credit retirement from the cooperative, they receive a tangible benefit from their membership.”

Anyone who had service in 2016 or earlier will receive either a check or a bill credit as part of this year’s capital credit retirement. Any member who has a retirement of $10 or more will receive a check and anyone under that amount will receive a credit on their bill in August or September.

“We will be issuing more than 79,000 checks to our members this year, and many of those checks will be substantial,” Parker said. “Consider some of our largest users like local businesses, school districts, municipalities and farms and you can understand the impact United Power’s cooperative model has on the communities we serve. Large checks to a school district or for town facilities can really help with operational costs.”

Capital credit retirements have returned a steady stream of money back to members in recent years. In the past 11 years, United Power has retired $41 million in capital credits to our members.

To learn more about Capital Credits visit our Capital Credits page,  or call a Member Services Representative at 303-637-1300.