In the last legislative session, the Colorado Senate passed Senate Bill 252, which significantly increases the requirement for the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources, said Kent Singer, executive director of Colorado Rural Electric Association. ìSenate Bill 252 creates a renewable portfolio standard of 20 percent by 2020 and is specifically applicable for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association,î Singer said. Tri-State supplies energy for 18 electric cooperatives in Colorado, including Mountain View Electric Association, he said.Darryl Edwards, member services manager for MVEA, said, ìThe old requirement was that 10 percent needed to be from renewable sources. The first 10 percent is MVEAís responsibility, but Tri-State is making sure that happens for us. Theyíve built wind farms and solar farms in New Mexico, and it all feeds into Colorado energy.ìSenate Bill 252 is directed at Tri-State to cover another 10 percent to make it 20 percent by 2020. Tri-State will try to continue to meet that mandate but will probably have to build other renewable sources like wind farms. Theyíre guessing it will cost at least $1 billion over the next few years leading up to 2020 to meet that mandate.îEdwards said the cost to build the renewable sources needed to meet the new requirement will be passed on from Tri-State to all its cooperative wholesale distributors, like MVEA, which will affect customer rates.Singer said the potential rate increase to MVEA customers and other customers receiving their power from an electric cooperative probably wonít be immediate. ìBut whenever you increase the cost of energy to either Tri-State or MVEA, they have no choice but to pass those costs on to their customers,î he said.ìThere are some pieces in the bill that say 1 percent has to be done by what they call a distributive generation. If people read it (SB 252) wrong, they think 1 percent of their energy has to come from renewable sources. Thatís not the case. It doesnít come down to individual residents helping with the solution.îGov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill, but he included a condition that a committee review the bill and make any necessary changes, Edwards said, adding that the bill is currently being rewritten. ìWeíre kind of waiting to see how the committee is going to change things and looking to Tri-State for guidance on what theyíre going to do and how theyíre going to meet it (the new mandate),î he said.Singer said that co-ops like CREA were supportive of the 2007 House Bill 281 that required 10 percent renewable energy sources, but he said the new bill this year was created by a flawed process. ìWe were never invited to the table to talk about the legislation, which typically we wouldíve been,î he said. ìWe asked the governor to veto the bill, but he signed it and then he created a committee to decide if the bill is feasible or not, which we think is backwards.îSB 252 also expands the base of what is considered renewable energy, Singer said. ìCoal mine methane, trash to gas ñ those are considered renewable,î he said. ìThe bill expands the base of renewables but increases the amount needed to be supplied by Tri-State.ìWeíre not in a position where we need more power supply as a co-op, but this legislation requires us to purchase other power sources that we donít really need and canít really afford.î
