Finance & Commerce has published another great article about our smart grid project:
http://finance-commerce.com/2012/05/great-river-energy-two-co-ops-to-test-smart-grid-technologies/
Great River Energy, Lake Region Electric Cooperative and Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative have launched a $5 million smart grid demonstration project with help from a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Lake Country Power’s Board of Directors has named Greg Randa general manager of the 43,000 member rural electric cooperative. The veteran cooperative manager will be charged with the responsibility to lead the non-profit utility on its course to improve service and reliability for members in northern Minnesota.
Greg Randa, general manager, Lake Country Power
“Greg is an experienced general manager and he has been a valuable contributor to the electric cooperative through the years,” said Lake Country Power Board President Jack Huhta. “I have full confidence that he will provide the all-important continuity and leadership needed to sustain our progress while leading the cooperative to achieve its primary mission to serve members with rates that balance safety, reliability, service quality and the financial strength of the cooperative.”
A 32-year cooperative employee, Randa has held a variety of leadership and managerial positions within the company and was named interim general manager of Lake Country Power March 1. He also has previous experience leading an electric cooperative, having served as the general manager of the former Carlton County Cooperative Power Association when it merged with two other electric co-ops to form Lake Country Power in 1997.
Mr. Randa has worked in several co-op posts over the years, most recently as staff assistant. Prior to that, he served as manager of marketing and economic development and manager of member services for Lake Country Power. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Minnesota Duluth and began his career with the cooperative as a warehouseman in 1979.
Randa will report directly to the Lake Country Power Board of Directors. He will continue to maintain his office in Lake Country Power’s Kettle River Service Center.
Lake Country Power is a Touchstone Energy® cooperative serving parts of eight counties in northeastern Minnesota. Visit their website: www.lakecountrypower.coop,
Great River Energy held a roundtable discussion led by Patricia Hoffman, U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at our headquarters in Maple Grove, Minn. on Tuesday. Hoffman led a discussion of smart grid technology development, the benefits the technology can provide and factors to be weighed and evaluated.
Gary Connett, Great River Energy, Director, Member Services & Demand Side Mangement (left) and Assist. Sec. Patricia Hoffman, U.S. Dept. of Energy (right)
Participants included:
We shared the live discussion on Twitter. Search Twitter for #smartgridcoop to read the conversation.
The Star Tribune ran a story today about our smart grid announcement. Read it here: Power co-ops launch $5 million ’smart grid’ project
Electric cooperatives in Minnesota kicked off a $5 million demonstration project today with the execution of contracts for hardware and software that will help modernize Minnesota’s electric grid.
As part of the National Rural Electric Association (NRECA’s) $34 million grant program, Minnesota cooperatives Great River Energy, Lake Region Electric Cooperative and Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative will implement software systems to manage the large amounts of data collected from smart meters. Other components of the demonstration project include the installation of in-home displays to signal homeowners when electricity prices spike; ability for customers to access their electricity usage data via the web; enhanced demand response management tools; and demonstration of energy storage devices, including residential battery storage systems and grid-interactive electric thermal storage water heaters.
“This demonstration project will enable our cooperatives and member-consumers to have a better understanding of the data available through smart grid systems, while also providing for more strategic demand response and load control programs,” said Gary Connett, director of demand side management and member services, Great River Energy. “The software tools, combined with demonstrations of pricing and energy storage solutions, will help modernize the electric grid in Minnesota, and provide valuable information for future smart grid solutions.”
“Nationwide, cooperatives are leading in the deployment of smart meter infrastructure, the development of interoperability and cyber security,” said John Hewa, NRECA’s Vice President of Research, Engineering and Technical Services. “With challenging service territories that cover more than 70 percent of the country’s landmass, cooperatives are researching and developing new technologies that can drive down costs and improve service for their members. Consumer trust in their co-op has allowed cooperatives to make these investments in leading-edge technologies.”
NRECA’s research arm, the Cooperative Research Network (CRN), is managing procurement of the software and equipment for the demonstration project, including contracts with the following companies:
• National Information Solutions Cooperative providing meter data management and demand response management systems.
• Steffes Corporation providing load control devices and software.
• Aclara Technologies providing load management switches.
• Silent Power, Inc. providing residential battery storage systems.
• Marathon Water Heaters providing grid-interactive electric thermal storage water heaters.
Supported by a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a total of 23 cooperatives nationwide are participating in smart grid demonstration projects, deploying more than 75 technologies and equipment in 12 states.
Great River Energy’s Elk River Resource Recovery Project made several process improvements in 2011 that have boosted electricity production, increased the value of recyclable materials, improved the plant’s efficiency and eliminated almost all waste being sent to a landfill instead of turned into refuse-derived fuel or recycled.
In addition to nearly eliminating waste sent to landfills, improved operations will result in annual cost savings of more than $1.1 million.
The improvements include a new ferrous metal clean-up system. The system makes the metal more valuable, delivering a net revenue of $240 per ton, up from $90 per ton prior to the cleaning system installation. The processing plant recycles approximately 7,800 tons of ferrous metal each year leading to a large increase in revenue.
Additional improvements were made to reprocess the leftover residue, allowing 80-90 percent of it to go to our power waste-to-energy plant, Elk River Energy Recovery Station, for additional electricity generation. The remaining concentrated “final residue” material that had previously been sent to a landfill can now be sold to a local metal refining company, turning even more waste into viable products.
Previously, any large “bulky” materials that were delivered to the project could not be processed and were transferred to trailers and transported to a landfill. Processing equipment was added that now allows these bulky items, such as unrecyclable mattresses or furniture, to be shredded and then processed with other waste to recover the metals and to make additional refuse-derived fuel. By shredding bulky waste and reprocessing residue, almost no material goes to a landfill from ERRRP anymore.
Watch this video to learn how the project works!
Memorial Blood Centers’ Bloodmobile is at Great River Energy’s Maple Grove office today.
Approximately 25 of our employees are generously donating the life saving gift of blood. The 25 or so units of blood collected here today amounts to about 72 lives saved!
As the primary supplier of blood to over 30 area hospitals throughout Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, Memorial Blood Centers must collect over 2,000 units of blood every week to meet demand.
Learn more at the Memorial Blood Centers website: mbc.org
It is vital that all consumers understand the importance of electrical safety at home, where electric potential is measured in hundreds of volts and can cause serious injury. On the electric grid where electric currents can be more than 1,000 times as powerful, safety can be a matter of life and death.
Great River Energy goes to any length to ensure there are safeguards in place that protect its employees and members.
Equally important is Great River Energy’s culture of safety. Every employee is empowered to report safety concerns with the expectation that they will be acted upon. That culture of safety led to the safest year in the history of the cooperative in 2011.
“Perhaps the thing that makes me proudest about the past year at Great River Energy is that it was our safest on record,” said Great River Energy President and CEO David Saggau. “It doesn’t matter what successes we have as an organization – if we don’t create a safe work environment for our employees we have failed in every respect.”
Great River Energy achieved all-time safety records in several industry-recognized categories, including Total Injury Rate (TIR) and Days Away, Restricted, Transferred (DART) rate. Both injury rates were significantly better than industry averages.
Safety is a corporate value at Great River Energy and all employees are responsible for ensuring a culture of safety among employees and the communities Great River Energy serves.
Generating and transmitting electricity is a dangerous business, and Great River Energy is proud to have achieved this milestone as it strives for an even better workplace.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 2 that it has agreed to most of the state of North Dakota’s clean air plan for regional haze. EPA officials agreed to adopt most of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for regional haze rather than a more costly federal plan. At this time, Coal Creek Station is still subject to the Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). Great River Energy originally completed the emissions analysis for Coal Creek Station in 2007, which formed the basis for North Dakota’s SIP. Since that time, we have installed and operated our DryFining system on both units at the plant. As a result, we have had to conduct additional analysis to appropriately reflect the significant emission reductions we’ve made as a result of the DryFining system.
The revised analysis was provided to the North Dakota Department of Health and to EPA. We are working with the health department to finalize our submission. Upon completion, we anticipate EPA will review and agree with the conclusion that selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) technology is not warranted for Coal Creek Station and that North Dakota’s SIP meets the requirements of the regional haze rule.
The EPA’s decision approves the SIP for Minnkota Power Cooperative’s Milton R. Young Station and Basin Electric’s Leland Olds Plant but requires additional control technology for Basin’s Antelope Valley Station, which the state had earlier proposed but EPA had previously rejected. If Basin Electric agrees to the suggestion, Antelope Valley Station will also be under the SIP.
For more information check out our position statement here.
Potter was one of the original directors when Great River Energy was formed in 1999. Before that he was on the Cooperative Power board of directors. He also served as president of the Minnesota Rural Electric Association, treasurer of the Dakota Electric
Association board of directors, and chair of GEN~SYS Energy, a cooperative providing energy marketing services to its members
Margaret Schreiner will succeed Potter on the Great River Energy board of directors. Schreiner has served on the Dakota Electric Association board of directors since 1987.
A pair of 115-kilovolt (kV) transmission line projects are now energized and serving two of Great River Energy’s member cooperatives. Known as the Potato Lake project, Great River Energy built 7¼ miles of new 115-kV transmission line to connect to the system a new distribution substation that was built by Itasca-Mantrap Cooperative Electrical Association. The project was needed to improve reliability and meet increasing demand for energy use in and around the region north of Park Rapids, Minn. The project was completed in December.
Also energized in December was the Pokegama project, which consisted of approximately 8 miles of new 115-kV transmission line. The line was needed to connect to the system a new distribution substation built by Lake Country Power. The project will improve reliability and meet increasing demand for electricity in the area between Grand Rapids, Minn., and Hill City, Minn.
Great River Energy continuously monitors its transmission system, participates in studies and works with other utilities to plan for future needs.
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