Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy Urges Platte River Power Authority to Transition to Renewable Energy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 5, 2017
Media Contacts:
​Kevin Cross, Fort Collins Sustainability Group jkevin87@comcast.net or (970) 484-3141
Karen Dike, Sustainable Resilient Longmont karen@srlongmont.org or (720) 363-7119
Gordon MacAlpine, Estes Valley Clean Energy Coalition gmacalpi@trinity.edu or (970) 342-4668
Jane Clevenger, Renewables Now Loveland jcbertha@gmail.com or (970) 532-9933

The member organizations of Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy (NCP4CE) are looking forward to the release of the Zero Net Carbon (ZNC) Study by the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA). We intend to review the study thoroughly in the weeks following its public release on Thursday, December 7th. It is our hope that it will be a good starting point for discussion, debate, and further modeling concerning how to reduce carbon emissions resulting from electric power consumed in the four communities served by the PRPA to zero by 2030. Specifically, it is our strong desire that the final version of the study incorporate the following:

• Avoidance of significant new natural gas infrastructure, such as gas-fired generators or pipelines,
  
• Inclusion of storage technologies to meet the demand for power when wind- and solar-generated electricity is unavailable,
  
• Demand side management initiatives to be undertaken by the utilities in the four member-owner municipalities, and
  
• An accounting of carbon emissions associated with hydroelectricity that is based on the best available science.
  
  

“We can't afford to wait three more decades to close the biggest coal polluter on the Front Range. We’re already starting to see the disastrous effects of climate change right here in Northern Colorado with increasingly intense wildfires. We urge the Platte River Power Authority to continue to work proactively to transition to renewable sources of energy, including solar and wind. Future generations of Front Range residents are depending on us now to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and make the switch to clean energy," said Kevin Cross of the Fort Collins Sustainability Group.

Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy (NCP4CE) is a coalition of the four municipalities within in the Platte River Power Authority. The member organizations of the NCP4CE are: the Fort Collins Sustainability Group, Sustainable Resilient Longmont, Renewables Now Loveland and the Estes Valley Clean Energy Coalition along with our coalition partners: Transition Fort Collins, 350 Northern Colorado, Community for Sustainable Energy, Colorado Sierra Club, and Environment Colorado.