Interesting Times
by Tom Walch, Chief Executive Officer
GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. - (June 9, 2025) May you live in interesting times.” This is an old salutation that is typically received as a bit of a curse. Blessing or curse, working in Colorado’s tumultuous electricity market in the mid-2020s provides us with plenty of interesting times.
Tracking the progress of Grand Valley Power’s federal grant applications generates a lot of interest. Our cooperative staff members worked diligently to take advantage of grant funding opportunities that would support infrastructure investments to protect against the threat of wildfires. These efforts were rewarded with grant awards totaling about $2 million. The processing of these awards was paused for several weeks while the Trump administration verified that these grants were a worthwhile use of taxpayer dollars. We are happy to report that processing and funding of these grants has resumed. We will move forward with projects to convert certain high country overhead lines to underground facilities, which will enhance reliability and significantly reduce the risk of wildfires in these areas.
Our staff also devoted significant efforts to securing a $13 million grant to boost resiliency and stabilize power costs with an agreement to purchase power from the Garnet Mesa Agrivoltaic Solar facility under development in nearby Delta County. Again, the award was paused by the Trump administration pending further review to ensure that it aligned with the President’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order. The review is ongoing, but we are cautiously optimistic that our award will be confirmed. Patience is the name of the game. Government staffers charged with the review are dealing with a heavy workload, as many of their colleagues took advantage of early retirement offers.
What other interesting things are happening? As Colorado’s Clean Energy Transition continues, Grand Valley Power and other electric providers must deal with very real limits on the availability of electricity during times of high demand. This resource adequacy challenge is magnified with the potential for even more demand for electricity from data centers. Intermittent wind and solar generators simply can’t provide all the electricity we will need. That is one of the reasons Grand Valley Power has inked a deal with Redlands Water and Power for 1.4 megawatts of clean hydroelectric generation. We started taking power from this resource April 1, and power cost savings have already been realized. The contract extends to 2028 and gives us time to explore how an ongoing relationship with this partner could provide additional benefits for both parties and our communities in the future.
The growth of distributed generation — typically consumer-owned solar panels — presents other interesting challenges for our cooperative. While this resource produces excess energy that can be available for other GVP consumers, it impacts cost recovery and creates other issues that must be addressed. The penetration rate of distributed generation interconnections on Grand Valley Power’s distribution system has topped 7%. This is one of the highest proportions among cooperatives in Colorado and across the country. Why is this a challenge? Since they generate much of their own electricity, consumers with solar panels don’t buy as many kilowatt-hours as other customers. As a result, our kilowatt-hour sales are flat or declining. This makes it harder for us to meet budget and cost recovery targets. This challenge is escalating because our costs are increasing. Our transmission costs, for example, which are primarily based on electricity demand, have almost doubled in the past four years. To address this challenge, we need to look at rebalancing or restructuring our rates to make sure we recover these demand costs and other fixed costs that are not linked to kilowatt-hour costs. Our board and staff will take a closer look at this issue later this year.
Are interesting times a blessing or a curse? Working through the challenges brought to light during 2025’s interesting times can be difficult. But knowing that the work we do can benefit our members and communities keeps the Grand Valley Power team energized and motivated. I believe I speak for directors, the management staff, and all Grand Valley Power front line team members when I say that it is a blessing to have the opportunity to take on these challenges — for you.