{"id":2444643,"date":"2019-05-27T11:26:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T17:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=306560"},"modified":"2019-05-27T11:26:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T17:26:07","slug":"glenwood-to-become-7th-city-in-the-us-to-be-100-percent-powered-by-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/glenwood-to-become-7th-city-in-the-us-to-be-100-percent-powered-by-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood to become 7th city in the US to be 100 percent powered by renewable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"
The city and Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska will sign the 100 percent renewable contract Wednesday at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park<\/strong>
Courtesy Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Glenwood Springs will become the seventh city in the United States powered entirely by renewable energy, and plans to sign the deal 7,100 feet in the sky this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited to announce that Glenwood Springs will soon be operated on one hundred percent renewable electricity,\u201d Mayor Jonathan Godes said in a recent press release announcing the deal with the city\u2019s wholesale power supplier.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany cities and towns across the country have set aggressive targets, and we are doing our part now \u2014 our future is now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In April, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to purchase Glenwood Springs Electric\u2019s power needs entirely through wind power supplied by the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN).<\/p>\n

The MEAN board approved the deal late last week.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of Glenwood\u2019s renewable energy will come from wind power supplied by MEAN at generating stations on the eastern plains. However, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) will supply 6.8 percent from hydroelectric renewable power, too.<\/p>\n

SIGNING IN THE SKY<\/h4>\n

On Wednesday, the city and MEAN officials will sign the contract at 2 p.m. at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park; the mountain-top theme park that overlooks the city from atop Iron Mountain at an altitude of over 7,000 feet.<\/p>\n

The caverns, as a city electric customer, becomes one of the first amusement parks in the country to be powered 100 percent by renewable sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur business is centered on nature-based adventure,\u201d Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park owner Steve Beckley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting the environment and natural resources has been our primary goal since we gave our first cave tour in May 1999. We are really pleased to be one of the first theme parks in the U.S. to have all of its electricity provided from renewable sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The park will offer free gondola rides between 1 and 2 p.m. Wednesday for the signing ceremony. Additionally, the first 50 event attendees will receive free LED light bulbs from Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER).<\/p>\n

\u201cSustainable tourism is an important issue these days and this move is a huge step in the right direction for Glenwood Springs as a whole,\u201d Beckley, who owns the park with his wife Jeanne, added.<\/p>\n

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR ELECTRIC BILL<\/h4>\n

Following the mountain-top signing, the 100 percent renewable contract will officially take effect on Saturday.<\/p>\n

According to a previous city staff report, with the new renewable energy contract, the city\u2019s cost per megawatt-hour (MWh) will drop from $51 to $46, and save the city $500,000 per year.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cThere will be no change in fees for city of Glenwood Springs residents,\u201d Director of Public Works Matthew Langhorst said in a separate interview.<\/p>\n

According to Langhorst, the city needs to design and construct a fourth electrical substation on the west side of town that carries with it a price tag of $2 to $2.5 million dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing for residents to know is that the electricity that they purchase from the city is now supplied by one hundred percent renewable resources, instead of a mix of renewable and non renewable resources,\u201d Langhorst said.<\/p>\n

Glenwood Springs has been 35 percent renewable on the electric grid since 2013, with 5 percent in hydro and 30 percent in wind purchases from MEAN, which has been the city\u2019s contracted bulk power supplier since 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be sitting down with finance next week to complete a full electrical department financial review to see if, after four to five years of paying for the new substation, we can do a rate adjustment, or possibly even before,\u201d Langhorst explained.<\/p>\n

Chamber Resort Association President and CEO Angie Anderson quickly praised the contract between the city and MEAN.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled that Glenwood Springs is on the cutting-edge utilizing one hundred percent renewable energy,\u201d Anderson stated in the news release. \u201cThis commitment to sustainability makes our community shine in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The city and Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska will sign the 100 percent renewable contract Wednesday at Glenwood Caverns Adventure ParkCourtesy Photo Glenwood Springs will become the seventh city in the United States powered entirely by renewable energy, and plans to sign the deal 7,100 feet in the sky this week. \u201cWe are very excited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2444643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-22 07:31:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}