The President’s stimulus package will likely soon lead to a new renewable energy development on Colorado’s Western Slope. The president spoken of, however, is not Barack Obama; it is William Howard Taft.
Delta-Montrose Electric Association, together with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, recently filed for a federal lease of power privileges to use the “run of river” flow of water coming through the Gunnison Tunnel, dug more than 100 years ago, for approximately six megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity. The proposed hydroelectric plant would be one of the largest renewable energy facilities in Western Colorado.
Delta-Montrose Electric Association, together with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, recently filed for a federal lease of power privileges to use the “run of river” flow of water coming through the Gunnison Tunnel, dug more than 100 years ago, for approximately six megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity. The proposed hydroelectric plant would be one of the largest renewable energy facilities in Western Colorado.
(Run of river means that no dam will need to be constructed for the project. The water that will be used to generate power comes through the 6-mile Gunnison Tunnel to a pre-existing diversion called the South Canal, a primary channel of the irrigation network of 575 miles of canals and ditches which irrigates the farms and ranches of the Uncompahgre Valley.)
President Taft came to the area in 1909 to personally open the Gunnison Tunnel, the first project undertaken by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Gunnison Tunnel enabled a semi-arid area in the southwest to be transformed into a thriving agricultural community.
Although irrigation for agriculture was the primary motivation behind the construction of the Gunnison Tunnel, the potential to generate electricity resulting from the project was noted by the media of the day.
Of course, demand for electricity in the area has grown tremendously since 1909, but the potential power from the South Canal project — about 6 megawatts of capacity — is still significant. DMEA’s overall system peak is roughly 110 MW, so the South Canal hydroelectric facility’s capacity would be about 5 percent of DMEA’s demand — much more than a drop in the bucket for a co-op DMEA’s size.
DMEA’s wholesale power provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, also praises the project. Tri-State Executive Vice-President and General Manager Ken Anderson explained, “Thirteen percent of Tri-State’s energy comes from renewable hydropower, and we’re diversifying our resource mix with large-scale wind power and solar energy. We’re excited to see DMEA and the Water Users Association build a reliable, predictable hydroelectric facility. Our policies fully support our member distribution systems developing projects of this magnitude.”
Construction of the plant would be in the future, with specific timing contingent on the federal government. DMEA’s general manager Dan McClendon is optimistic.