Thank you to all who donated on Colorado Gives Day, PUC update, Community Choice Energy, and more!

Thank you to our supporters!   Colorado Gives Day was a success and we thank you all so much for your support of CEA! We raised $7000, which goes a long way toward our annual operational costs. Although CEA is primarily run by volunteers, your generous support of our dedicated part-time technical and operational staff is greatly appreciated.    The very best of Holidays, and New Year’s blessings, from our hearts to you.

Basic primer on Xcel's rate increase   Our co-founder, Leslie Glustrom, was intervied on KGNU about Xcel's rate case at the PUC. Look for the 12/11/2019 episode from 14:15 to 24:00:  https://www.kgnu.org/morningmagazine

Benefits of Rural Electric Cooperatives as Broadband Providers    Our Executive Director, Conor May, authored this very informative article on rural electric cooperatives (RECs) published in the Colorado Technology Law Journal's Blog.   https://ctlj.colorado.edu/?p=1012

Community Choice Energy   Colorado State Representative Edie Hooten has recently announced that she will be introducing a bill in the 2020 session for studying Community Choice Energy (CCE). Often called Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), the concept allows communities to choose their own electricity suppliers and has been enacted in eight other states. The study is an important first step toward allowing the same possibility in Colorado. You can read Rep. Hooten's description of CCE here: https://www.ediehooton.com/communitychoiceenergy.   California's Clean Power Alliance CCA, the country's largest with over one million households, is a good example of a CCA in operation. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-clean-power-alliance-launch-20190201-story.html https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/2019/10/17/clean-power-alliance-explains-why-future-of-community-choice-aggregation-is-so-bright

Colorado PUC Update   As 2019 comes to a close, the Colorado PUC has opened several dockets to consider a variety of rule changes which promote renewable resources . In November, integrating several months of stakeholder workshops, the commission opened a docket ( decision no. C19-0951 in docket no. 19R-0654E ) to consider modifications to interconnection procedures. These changes acknowledge the growing addition of distributed energy resources (e.g., home solar, batteries, and small facilities) into the Colorado electric grid. The proposed rules address electric resource planning, incorporation of energy storage, renewable energy standards, net metering, interconnection procedures, and community solar gardens .    The commission is also investigating transportation electrification (docket no. 19M-0574E , opened in October), community solar gardens (docket no. 19R-0608E, opened in November) and distribution planning (docket no. 19M-0670E , opened in December).  The distribution planning docket in particular will facilitate a stakeholder process to consider how utilities should integrate distributed energy/new resources and avoid unnecessary investment in transmission and distribution.

Meet our Board: Devon Reynolds We are proud of our board member, Devon Reynolds, who received 350 Colorado’s award of climate hero of the month. Devon is a graduate student in the CU Boulder environmental studies program, focusing on environmental justice and fossil fuel divestment, putting her research skills to work for climate activism for the climate crisis. This year Devon spent over a hundred hours lobbying and testifying for climate justice in state government committee hearings and COGCC meetings.   https://350colorado.org/climate-hero-of-the-month-devon-reynolds

Microgrid Summit   November's Microgrid Summit in the news:  https://350colorado.org/microgrids-distributed-energy-makes-strange-bedfellows/ https://www.coloradodaily.com/2019/11/08/boulder-voices-spur-visions-of-future-microgrid-energy-economy/

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