Board Hears About Energy Efficiency Programs
Access Energy Cooperative board and management heard from five industry experts about programs to help promote more efficient use of electricity among consumers at the 45th annual meeting of its wholesale power supplier, Associated Electric Cooperative (AECI) in June.
AECI’s member cooperative systems, in addition to Access Energy Cooperative, include six regional generation and transmission cooperatives and 50 other local distribution cooperatives in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma.
In addition to their environmental benefits, energy efficiency and demand-side management are prominent topics because electricity demand and costs continue to increase among AECI’s member cooperatives, including Access Energy.
Efficient production and use of electricity play a vital role in helping control costs and ensure cooperative members get the most value for their money. Because of the relationship between rising electricity demand and the rising cost of electricity, Access Energy’s power supplier is aggressively exploring innovative measures to help meet its members’ growing electricity needs and control costs.
Rising electricity demand necessitates the need for new power plants. This and additional factors, including construction of new environmental controls, rapidly escalating construction costs and rising fuel and operating costs, are contributing to rising costs for AECI, Access Energy and utilities across the nation.
Energy efficiency and demand-side management
Energy efficiency refers to steps taken to reduce overall energy consumption by specific end-use devices. Examples include installation of high-efficiency appliances; lighting; heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; home weatherization; and efficient building design.
Demand-side management programs help utilities reduce demand by directly controlling operation of customers’ major end-use devices when higher cost peaking resources would be required to meet load. Common devices that can be controlled include heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; large motors; and electric hot water heaters.
A strong environmental record
During the past 12 years, AECI achieved a 90 percent reduction in its annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions rate and a 77 percent reduction in its nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions rate by converting to low-sulfur coal from Wyoming, closing its Missouri mine and installing environmental controls at a cost of $650 million.
AECI is working to further improve air quality by adding new emissions controls at its existing facilities at a cost of $330 million, including equipment that will reduce the cooperative’s systemwide NOx emissions rate by 90 percent.
Last year, AECI committed to buying for the next 20 years all the energy produced by three wind farms in northwest Missouri. The first wind farm, Bluegrass Ridge, is located in Gentry County and began producing electricity March 8. Two additional facilities, the Cow Branch and Conception wind farms, are located in Atchison and Nodaway counties, respectively. These facilities are expected to be complete by year-end 2007. Combined, the three wind farms will be capable of producing 157 megawatts, enough power for about 45,000 homes.
For its leadership in helping bring utility-scale wind power to Missouri, AECI recently received the “2006 Wind Co-op of the Year” award from the U.S. Department of Energy.