Owner/Operator: Platte River Power AuthorityTop Plant: The staff of the Rawhide Energy Station have been racking up operating stats and an environmental performance record that is the envy of other plant managers. In the past decade Rawhide has enjoyed an equivalent availability factor in the mid- to high 90s and an average capacity factor approaching 90%. Still not content with this performance, Rawhide invested in new technology and equipment upgrades to further optimize performance, reduce emissions, and keep cost competitive.Platte River Power Authority (Platte River), established by the state of Colorado in 1973, is the wholesale electricity provider to the municipal power systems of its owner-communities: Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland. Platte River generates and transmits power to the municipalities, which distribute it to homes and businesses. Each member-city sets its own utility rates for customers.
1. Top of the charts. Rawhide Energy Station’s coal-fired unit is one of the most efficient in the western U.S. It also ranks among the 10 units with the lowest emissions. Courtesy: Platte River Power Authority
Platte River owns and operates, or purchases power from, a wide range of power generation resources to serve its customers’ electricity needs. Its own generating resources at Rawhide Energy Station (Rawhide) include four GE Frame 7EA natural gas-fired turbines totaling 260 MW (three installed in 2002 and a fourth added in 2004) and a 274-MW coal-fired unit. All are located along Colorado’s Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in northeastern Colorado (Figure 1).
Platte River’s 10-MW Medicine Bow Wind Project, located near Medicine Bow, Wyo., provides renewable power to its system. Platte River also has an ownership share in the Yampa Project, a coal-fired plant in northwestern Colorado, and an allotment of hydroelectric power from the Colorado River and Missouri Basin projects to round out its electricity resources.
Platte River was traditionally a winter-peaking utility; however, in 1994 the peak moved to the summer and has since doubled from 312 MW to 635 MW (as of July 2007). In fact, the summer peak is now growing at 3.6% per year (five-year average) and is forecasted to reach 821 MW in 2017.
“Demand for electricity during the summer has grown dramatically in our owner-communities,” said Brian Moeck, Platte River general manager. “It’s mainly due to the number of air conditioners that have been installed during the last several years.” To meet this growing load demand, Platte River just placed its newest generation resource into commercial service on July 13: a 128-MW GE Frame 7FA natural gas-fired simple-cycle gas turbine that sits alongside its four other gas turbines at Rawhide (Figure 2).
2. Mixed-use site. The Rawhide Energy Station includes four 65-MW GE Frame 7EA natural gas-fired turbines. A new 128-MW GE Frame 7FA turbine (not yet built when this photo was taken) was commissioned on July 23. Courtesy: Platte River Power Authority
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