Tri-State developed its 2010 resource plans to meet the electricity needs of its 44 member electric cooperatives.  The planning process involved projecting future needs, assessing the existing assets available to meet those needs and identifying any resource gap so that Tri-State can continue to provide reliable and affordable electricity.

Planning for resources involved developing and assessing 24 alternative scenarios based on a range of growth rates, resource costs, capital costs, types of generation resources, energy efficiency programs, levels of emissions, water usage and other considerations.  The various alternative resource plans were compared on the basis of cost, environmental characteristics and other factors.

A component of the development of Tri-State’s resource plan was public input.  Tri-State held a series of public resource planning meetings in 2010.  The first round of meetings informed the public about Tri-State’s resource requirements and guidelines and discussed the planning process and modeling alternatives.  Subsequent meetings allowed for feedback and input into Tri-State’s resource planning studies.

A draft resource plan was circulated for public review and certain changes were made in response to that input.  The Electric Resource Plan (21 MB) was filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission at the end of November 2010 and the plan will be submitted to the Western Area Power Administration by the end of 2010.

Operating under the cooperative principles, Tri-State seeks to keep members and the public informed.  Your participation in this process is encouraged.

Updated December 1, 2010