Rotary Club of Conifer Videoconference Meeting, December 15, 2020

Announcements/Business
 
  • No club meetings December 22nd and 29th.
  • The club will have our traditional white elephant gift meeting on Jan 12th.  Drop off gifts at Angela’s before the meeting and pick up your lucky gift acquisitions at Angela’s afterward.
  • Check out the Rotary Peace Committee virtual event on January 7th.  Registration and information is available on the District website at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50085/Event/peace-is-possible
  • Suzanne reported that $650 was donated for Santa Cause.  MRC has 4 families, maybe 5 who can use our help.  All are single mothers with teenagers, one is a Grandmother with custody of a 3 year old and a 12 month old.  Suzanne and Pat are doing the shopping.
  • Julie reported that the Maskarade fundraiser has brought in $2074:  46 masks + 18 lanyards.
  • Wes reminded us that the Conifer High School behind the scenes tour will be Thursday at 3:30.  He also encouraged everyone to look at the Interact Club jewelry for sale on the Maskarade website to benefit the Rotary Polio effort.  You can see it here:  https://coniferfest.com/shop/ols/categories/interact-polio-drive-jewelry
  • Angela says there are bell ringing openings at King Soopers and Moore Lumber in Pine Junction.  Sign up with Sign-up Genius here:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4bada82ca6f58-conifer4
  • Lesley invites us all to participate in the blood donation drive in progress.  Contact her for more information.
  • There is a community Zoom meeting 5:30PM January 5th about the proposed Full Send Bike Ranch, a proposed bike park on Shadow Mountain Drive.  Join the meeting here.
    Meeting ID: 977 9478 0530     Passcode: 121436
 
Program
Ron Kilgore.  IREA Board of Directors, District 2
 
We enjoyed a very informative presentation by Ron Kilgore IREA Director for District 2.  He was appointed last August after the preceding Director, Duke Dozier, passed away.
 
IREA. Is the 2nd largest electrical cooperative in the country, well respected and considered an example to follow by other companies.  As an example, they currently have an executive position opening and there are 186 qualified applicants from around the country.
 
IREA is helping their customers and their community:
  • COVID.  IREA suspended disconnects, waived the disconnect fee, stopped charging late fees, and re-evaluated customers and rate structures.  Bill payment arrangements are being made with customers needing help.  Their disconnect notices resumed in July, fortunately at a lower than average rate because of their other efforts.
  • IREA Cares Program.  A company program encouraging their employees to volunteer for community opportunities.  Program coordinator, Becky Wilson, can be reached at 720-733-5546.  She publishes volunteer opportunities within IREA and employees get the day off to volunteer.  This was implemented last August.
  • Renewable Energy.  IREA is an industry leader.  The cost for renewable energy, especially solar, has plummeted in recent years.  Their new Pioneer Solar Facility near Bennet will come online in 2021, producing 80 megawatts of solar power.  Information about that project is available here:   https://irea.coop/board-oks-80-megawatt-solar-project.  They have been committed to solar energy since the Victory Solar project came online in 2017.  That project produces 12.8 megawatts of power, enough for 2000 homes.  For more information about that project click here:  https://irea.coop/victory-solar.
  • Rooftop solar.  There are almost 3000 IREA customers with rooftop solar interconnected to their system.
  • System Improvements, $69 million spent.  Numerous projects are underway to improve system reliability.  Noteworthy is the Kenosha Pass to Roberts Tunnel Transmission Line upgrade from 44KV to 115KV.  In general, it is more expensive to run power through the rugged foothills than on the plains and that cost is absorbed by the entire coop.
  • Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).  New AMI meters for the entire IREA coop.  There are over 160,000 installed-95.8% complete.  They will provide improved outage notification, distribution automation, and better rate options.  It measures voltage at delivery points, and Identifies problems from blinks and voltage drops.
Peak customer usage is between 6 – 9PM.  The new meters will enable customers to adjust their optional usage to lower demand times.  This information is available to customers online at the IREA website.  Their MyPower website and mobile apps provide that access.
  • Fire Mitigation.  IREA is very aware of the wildfire risk caused by vegetation impacting their power lines.  They have an aggressive vegetation management (tree trimming) program to minimize wildfire risk when there are high winds.  They clear their right of ways and if they find hazard trees nearby-they offer free removal to the property owner.
Power Supply.  IREA has limited self-generated power and hence they buy wholesale power from other utilities.  Their current Power Purchase Agreement with Xcel Energy expires in 2025, and they must inform their supplier (Xcel) by the end of this year if they intend to seek a new contract or continue the present agreement.  Power is easy to buy, but not necessarily cost effective.  IREA sent a Request For Proposal to power suppliers last summer and received 117 proposals from 24 bidders.  Many are cheaper than Xcel but Excel is very reliable and they have many ties to the Xcel system.  They are pleased that their efforts to find lower cost, reliable power, while minimizing emissions may have potential options.
 
Ron emphasized that he is very impressed with IREA’s dedicated, high quality employees and board members.  To them, providing reliable power is a passion, much more than a job.
 
You can contact him at rkilgore@IREA.coop
 
 
Guest: Ron Kilgore, IREA District 2 Director