By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

One Colorado co-op has set the stage to defect from one wholesaler because they don’t believe it’s moving fast enough to incorporate renewables into its portfolio – and the long-term implications are potentially startling.

As Western Energy News reports:

The Delta-Montrose Electric Association will vote in October on rule changes that would allow another power supplier to help finance its exit from a contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission.

The association is among Tri-State’s largest customers, and its defection could heighten the risk of a mass exodus as others are forced to cover a larger share of costs for operating the wholesaler’s infrastructure, including its coal-fired power plants.

The problem, at least according to Delta’s CEO, is the arbitrary cap Tri-States puts on local generation. That significantly limits the amount of renewable energy the co-op can have in its own portfolio. From Western Energy News:

Several co-ops have been stymied by Tri-State’s 5 percent cap on local generation, and Tri-State and Delta-Montrose continue to wait on a rehearing from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the matter.

“We’ve been stifled from our ability to have flexibility to develop those resources and make them economical for our membership under the confines of our current contract,” [Delta CEO Jansen] Bronec said.

While Delta’s defection would have an immediate impact on Tri-State, the decision to move away from coal-generated electricity could have implications far beyond Colorado’s borders. It should send the message to wholesalers like Tri-State that arbitrarily clinging to outdated fossil-fuel generation is a way to lose members at an alarming rate. As prices continue to drop for solar and wind production, co-ops are not going to sit idly by and pay higher prices just because the wholesaler doesn’t want to change.

The Solar Revolution is happening, and smaller entities like Delta are starting to catch on. Once they realize the power is in their hands, look for more wholesalers to bend to the will of their members – and look for more renewable energy to come online as they do so.

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Colorado co-op vote sets table for defection from coal power wholesaler