The Taylor Park Dam is located east of Almont.Construction of the $3.3 million Taylor River hydropower plant at the Taylor Park Dam is set to commence in early June — a project that will boost local renewable energy generation.
The Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) and the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association plan to celebrated the start of the project with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 31. The two organizations formed Taylor River Hydro, LLC to jointly develop, own and operate the plant and have been working through the permitting and design process over the last three years.
When completed in early 2024, the plant’s 500 kilowatt (kW) generator will operate at or near full capacity 24 hours a day, year-round and produce on average over 3.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.
“That’s about 475 Gunnison County households a year,” said GCEA Strategy Execution Specialist Matt Feier. “By comparison, a 500 kW hydro project would produce about the same amount of energy annually as some 2,500 kW fixed-tilt solar arrays.”
The advantage of hydro over solar is that it is available around the clock even in the winter and is very cost-effective in terms of kWh produced, versus a local solar project.
“Hydro also has a very good track record of producing for very long periods of time. There are hydro facilities that have been running for 100+ years,” Feier said.
The addition of the Taylor River Hydro project will bump GCEA up to nearly 3% local renewable energy generation, adding to its current portfolio of two community solar gardens at the Crested Butte wastewater treatment plant and at the GCEA headquarters in Gunnison and a small wind turbine in Doyleville. Two more solar projects are currently in the works, and once completed GCEA will have met its current 7% local renewable energy allowance from Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association which supplies wholesale power to GCEA. Tri-State’s current energy portfolio consists of 34% renewable energy with commitments to be 50% renewable by 2024, 70% renewable by 2030 and to achieve an 80% carbon reduction from their 2005 level by 2030.
“We are relying on Tri-State for a large portion of our strategy with respect to the energy transition and climate action because there’s so much more that they can do, and much more cost-effectively than we can. They’re on a path to increase their renewable energy and making a lot of progress,” said Gunnison County Electric Association CEO Mike McBride.
According to staff, with Tri-State’s support and Uncompahgre’s partnership, GCEA is excited to provide clean renewable energy to its service territory without any negative impact on member’s electric rates.
“Our board and membership identified that we want to take full advantage of that 7% and find a cost-effective way to do it,” Feier said. “This is our best opportunity.”
(Source: Gunnison County Electric Association.)
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