coloradocountrylife.coop 5APRIL 2018

SOUTHEAST COLORADO POWER ASSOCIATION

[Rural Life]

As its name implies, electricity is the flow of electrons that provides the power needed to enjoy many aspects of our daily lives. Those electrons can be generated in multiple ways and our distribution system is a beneficiary of all of them.

I’m extremely pleased to share that even more of them are now coming from an abundant state resource. With Coloradans frequently touting our state’s 300-plus days of sunshine to support the phrase “sunny Colorado,” it only seems fitting that that resource is maximized not only for quality of life and recreational benefit, but also for energy.

After almost two years of evaluation, planning, development and construc-tion, we excitedly energized the Vilas Solar project on March 1. The arrays and

attached substation reside on almost 40 acres ap-proximately 10 miles east of Springfield.

As a member-owner of Tri-State Generation and Transmission, we agree to purchase 95 percent of our power needs from that cooperative, which leaves 5 percent for us to self-generate. Through the Tri-State generation fleet, 33 percent of the power we purchase is already sourced from wind, solar and hydroelectric. Vilas Solar adds another 4.5 percent to our specific load.

Analyzing whether or not to deploy renewable resources, and which type, is a lengthy process. That said, making a

final decision is pretty simple. I shared many times our basic mission: safe, reliable and af-fordable service. This is the only filter we use to reach a conclu-sion.

This new source is safe. Sun-shine is not as reliable for obvious reasons, but we are backed up by power plants 24 /7, 365 days per year and when the sun is bright

it does provide a solid energy output. Most importantly, it is affordable as solar power is much cheaper to produce. In fact, over the next 20 years, our membership will realize a power supply cost benefit exceeding $1 million, which helps place a downward pressure on rates.

Adding to the value proposition, we chose to partner with RES, a renewable energy specialist with already established wind and solar projects in Colorado. We purchased the land and constructed the substation while RES deployed its own capital investment in the solar panels and related system hardware. Hence, we pre-served a significant amount of capital that we can use for enhancements throughout our system. And to improve rate stability, we pay RES for the energy output on a pre-determined pricing model over the next two decades.

This launch is yet another milestone in the history of our cooperative. It has been great to experience these milestones and we will continue to strive for even more in the years to come.

VILAS SOLAR PROJECT COLORADO SUNSHINE POWERING OUR MEMBERSHIPBY JACK JOHNSTON || CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER || JACKJ@SECPA.COM

Jack Johnston

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coloradocountrylife.coop6

[Rural Life]

APRIL 2018

YOUTH LEADERSHIP CAMP WINNERS

Alex Higbee Lamar High SchoolParents: Donald & Angela Higbee

Dylan Renquist Walsh High School Parents: Ryan and Alissa Renquist

D.C. YOUTH TOUR WINNERS

Caitlyn LancasterManzanola High SchoolParents: Scott Lancaster

& Shurrell Ramsay

Jeff Henderson Lamar High School Parents: Thomas &

Karen Henderson

Be Alert and Stay Safe in Roadway Work ZonesElectric utilities often must put trucks and crews in roadways to make repairs or install new equipment to keep power on at your home and business. These workers already face hazards in their job, and those risks increase when working in an area near a roadway.

With distracted driving accidents on the rise, one utility says its high-est worker risk factor now is a distracted driver.

The National Work Zone Safety Information Clearing House offers these measures for staying safe in work zones:

• Never use a cell phone or text while driving.• Stay alert. Expect the unexpected.• Slow down.• Don’t tailgate.• Pay attention to the signs.• Obey the flaggers.• Be patient and stay calm.• Know the road rules for work zones.Colorado law requires that you keep a safe distance between your car

and construction workers and equipment with flashing amber lights. Driving the posted work zone speed limit and using your four-way flashers when stopping or traveling slowly can help reduce accidents in work zones.

When you are making travel plans, check state websites for road con-struction information before starting a trip. If you know you are going to be traveling through a work zone, give yourself extra time to get to your destination.

For more safety information, visit SafeElectricity.org

If you find your name in this issue as follows (WIN* your name, your account number), please contact Southeast Colorado Power Association at 719-384-2551 or 800-332-8634 to receive a credit on your next power bill.

Last month’s winner is Robert Schwindt, Acct. #1901770200

coloradocountrylife.coop 7

[Rural Life]

APRIL 2018

COO Bill Cochell.

SPRINGFIELD linemen: Joe Self, Taylor Wallace, Phil Hinds, Heath Piper, Raymond Aguilar, Mark Hall and Clint Arbuthnot. Not pictured: Buddy Myers.

LA JUNTA linemen: Kyle Maier, Bruce Barnhart, Jace Noe, Jerid Bruna, Anthony Lobato, Alex Vasquez, Joel Johnson, Casey Briscoe, Dave Mallot and (front - kneeling) Kris Barbee.

LAMAR: Garrett Wertz, Jim Perkins, Justin Bruna, Troy Eberhardt, Keenan Davis, Mike Trumble, Louis Serra and James Cline.

EADS linemen: Jason Lucius, Jacob Barnes and John Jackson.

LINEMEN APPRECIATION DAYAPRIL 9# THANKALINEMAN

coloradocountrylife.coop8 APRIL 2018

[Rural Life]

A (CAREFUL) DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LINEWORKER

Larry’s typical day as an electric co-op lineworker actually started the night before. He was getting ready for bed when a woman reported her power outage. It was Larry’s weekly overnight to be on call, so the co-op truck was already in his driveway. He drove it to the woman’s house, identified a problem in the base of the meter, installed a temporary fix until an electrician could get out the next day and returned home two hours later. He would report for work at the co-op office by 7:30 the next morning.

“I like hunting down problems,” Larry says. “I know I’m doing something the members can’t do themselves. They depend on us.”

Larry’s like a lot of electric utility line-workers, said John Dvorak, director of safety and loss control for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives.

“There are more people who can’t do this work than can do it,” Dvorak says. “It takes specific skills and intestinal fortitude. They’re a ‘get it done’ type of personality.”

Larry isn’t like a lot of lineworkers, he is a lot of lineworkers. He’s actually not a real person, but a combination of the real people I interviewed for this story about a typical day for a lineworker.

FOLLOWING PROCEDUREMost lineworkers start each work day in a room with the rest of the crew, leafing through stacks of paper — checklists, maps, work orders — and planning the day’s work. They compare notes, ask who is familiar with the area they are headed to and analyze last night’s college ball game.

In addition to taking time to coordinate the plans and paperwork, these guys (there are a few women among the more than 15,000 co-op lineworkers around the country) need to keep track of a lot of equipment. Neatly organized shelves in the warehouse hold saws, drills, climbing hooks, insulated work poles, trash cans and binoculars. They need to wear safety gear or have it close at hand, including a hard hat, safety glasses, fire-retardant uni-forms, steel-toed shoes, regular work gloves and hot-line safety gloves.

One more delay keeps the crews from driv-ing off to their first jobs, and it is probably the most important reason of all — the weekly safety meeting.

The co-op’s safety coordinator opens the meeting. She notes that while catastrophic contact with electric current is always a top concern, today’s meeting is focusd on

avoiding “slips, trips and falls that can cause very big issues.” A safety specialist from the state co-op association tells the group that he disagrees with the common idea that a line-worker’s job is dangerous: “It’s hazardous and unforgiving, but it doesn’t have to be danger-ous if you follow the right procedures. We have the tools, the rules and the knowledge that can keep it from being dangerous.”

By midmorning, the convoy is ready. Three lineworkers drive three trucks: a service truck, a bucket truck pulling a trailer with a large spool of wire and a digger truck with a huge auger on top pulling a trailer carrying a back-hoe. They head across the county for the day’s job — moving a ground-mounted transform-er 500 feet up a hill, closer to an underground connection to a new barn.

“It’s going to be muddy out there after the rain we’ve had,” Larry says. “When you’re working on underground connections, mud is not your friend.”

They near the site by late morning. To avoid interrupting the fieldwork, the team stops for an early lunch at a truck-stop McDonald’s. Over burgers, I ask Larry about his training and his typical day.

WE DON’T SAY “HURRY UP”“There’s nothing routine,” he says. A work plan might get changed because someone crashed their car into a utility pole. Tomorrow he is presenting a safety demonstration to a group of elementary school students. He tells about the satisfaction of traveling out of state to help repair hurricane damage.

When the caravan arrives at the work site, the trucks drive up the packed, crushed-rock driveway, avoiding the soft ground on either side. (*WIN Max Owens, Acct.# 1501180000)

The three lineworkers gather near the front of one of the trucks for what a lot of co-ops call a “tailgate meeting” and this co-op calls a “job briefing.” They read through forms, not-ing the address, cross streets, job and account number. All three men sign the form.

They break their huddle and de-energize the lines they will be working on, calling to let the office know the power has been cut. The next step is to use the backhoe to dig around the new connection pipes sticking out of the ground, making room for a ground-mounted transformer.

When the backhoe driver finishes digging around the new transformer location, the lineworker drives down to the old transformer site. The crew unhooks the electric connec-

tions, then chains the transformer to the back-hoe’s loader bucket to be carried up the hill. But to keep the backhoe from getting stuck in the mud on the trip up the hill, the trucks are backed down the driveway to clear the way for the backhoe to be driven on firmer ground.

Two of the crew pull new wire under-ground, then cut and splice the 2-inch diameter wires into the transformer box. They secure the connections before cleaning up the work site.

On the return trip, the convoy visits the truck stop to top off the gas tanks. Back at the co-op, they check the paperwork for the next day’s jobs, then stock the trucks with the equipment they need for an early start.

Before we say goodbye, I ask Larry what he thinks of the time it took to follow all the procedures of their work day.

“We don’t think, ‘This is taking a long time,’” he says. “We just think, ‘This is how you do it.’ We don’t say, ‘Hurry up.’ We look out for each other.”

Paul Wesslund writes on cooperative issues for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

BY PAUL WESSLUND

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