COLORADO’S RENEWABLE ENERGY
DEVELOPMENT TEAM (REDT)
Pagosa Springs Geothermal Heating
October 6th, 2011
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GEO’s
Renewable Energy
Development
Team
Technical & Business
Development
Assistance
FERC Pilot Program
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Benefits to Applicant
• Simple application process
– Online application: RechargeColorado.com
• Expertise Available –SRA consultants
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Guide applicants through the project applications process
One point of contact through project evaluations
Review project specifics and develop a financial presentation
Positive feedback loop
Branding of your project with technical evaluation
FREE service
• Potential financing
– Potential Phase III presentation to financial investors or project
developers.
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GEO’s
Renewable Energy
Development
Team
Technical & Business
Development Assistance
FERC Pilot Program
Geothermal Projects
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Technical & Business Development
Assistance Program Goals
• Move well-vetted projects to the next stage of
development (not to complete feasibility studies).
• Support projects that have developed a basic scope and
that have enough technical knowledge of the project to
complete an online application.
• Provide assistance for dozens Phase I projects across
Colorado, representing geographical, capacity and
technical diversity.
• Support approximately 17 renewable energy projects
through Phase III within two years.
• Get projects in the ground.
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TBDA Eligibility
Eligible Technologies (<30 MW):
– Biomass
– Small hydro (less than 10 MW)
– Solar photovoltaic and solar
thermal
– Distributed generation wind
– Geothermal (direct-use
applications and power
generation, excludes heat pumps)
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Benefits to Applicant
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Up to 120 hours of free technical assistance per project
Identify project barriers  Propose solutions
Potential funding sources analyzed and presented
Access to subject matter experts
Association with Governor’s Energy Office provides
project credibility with investors
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TBDA Program Process
• Project Review
• Thorough review of project that identifies strengths
Phase I
and weaknesses of project
• Project Consultation
• Majority of 120 Hours of Technical and Business
Phase II
Development Assistance provided
• Project Presentation
• Position project for potential presentations to investors
Phase III
and developers
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FERC Small Hydro Pilot Program
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Benefits to Applicant
• Simplified application process
– Streamlined process trims review time from years to months
– Online application: RechargeColorado.com
• Expertise Available –SRA consultants
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Guide applicants through the process
One point of contact through process
Help you complete a thorough application
FREE service
• Resource agency coordination
– Includes CO Div. of Wildlife, US Forest Service, US Fish &
Wildlife Service, Trout Unlimited, CO Dept. of Public Health &
environment, and more..
– All agencies are coordinated in parallel
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FERC Program Qualifications
• Existing infrastructure
(incidental hydro)
• No increased stream
diversions
• Water rights, permits,
licenses, etc.
• No adverse effects:
water, fish, cultural,
historical, etc.
• Must qualify for FERC
conduit exemption or
5 MW exemption
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Example FERC Project
• 25kW system
• Water currently used by
rancher for irrigation
• Use hydropower system
to power irrigation system
• No infrastructure changes
or increased diversions
• Saves applicant time and
money
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Pagosa Springs Wells
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Pagosa Springs Geothermal District Heating
Major findings from requirements investigation include :
•Installed in December 1982, the geothermal heating loop is
now reaching a reasonable life expectancy. Extensive
evaluations outside the scope of this report are needed to
determine the next steps for this heating loop as well as any
expansion opportunities.
•Current low prices of natural gas at $0.59/therm make
geothermal systems very challenging.
•Density study shows the line heat density of the Pagosa
Springs system is appropriate.
•A robust metering and billing system is needed to ensure
customer satisfaction and decrease operation costs.
•Anything that can be done to level the load and increase
revenue from delivered heat will improve the system
economics.
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Pagosa Springs Geothermal District Heating
Major findings from requirements investigation include:
•Opportunities exist for the city to improve system
performance by lowering return water temperatures.
One way is by using return water lines to perform snow
melt operations.
•A current and future customer satisfaction survey will
be important prior to any expansion plans.
•Adding controls on customer systems may improve
customer satisfaction.
•If the system were “retuned” to achieve the 110 °F
return temperature from the consumers this would likely
solve any perceived capacity problem with the system.
•The rate structure should be configured to reward
those who use return water for their snow melting
systems as opposed to those who use supply water,
and as with space heating customers, the return
temperatures of snow melt customers should be
controlled to much lower temperature, perhaps as low
as 50 °F.
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Thank You!
Joe McCabe
Renewable Energy Development Team
SRA International
303.233.1186
Joseph_McCabe@sra.com
Give me your card and we can follow up.
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Questions?
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