Much has been made about Great River Energy’s LEED-platinum certified headquarters building, as it was the first building in Minnesota to receive the USGBC’s highest designation.

But data centers can be an incredibly large energy user. The Great River Energy IT department helped ensure that the data center in the headquarters building would be just as efficient as the other high-profile building features. It may not be as noticeable as a 200-kW wind turbine, but it’s definitely just as important. The team recently completed a white paper that discusses how to evaluate and develop a green IT center.

Some key topics discussed in the paper include:
-Goals to avoid hardware purchases and maintenance costs; improve infrastructure manageability; increase application availability
-Incorporate efficient planning; the Great River Energy data center used a hot-aisle, cold-aisle layout with optimally placed HVAC equipment, 24-inch raised floors and EnergyStar-rated equipment, all of which serves to minimize energy usage.
-Working more efficiently across the company, including using teleconferencing and video conferencing services, all supported by the IT department; the data center helps enable that efficiency.

The air is starting to feel a little bit more like fall…which means holidays are on the way!
Does your tree need some more ornaments this year? Check out the Willie Wirehand ornament from NRECA. You can also be a fan of NRECA’s past ornaments on Facebook.

Back to school shopping is a great time to practice energy efficiency, whether it’s purchasing an energy efficient mini-fridge or compact fluorescent light bulbs, being an EnergyStar can be simple. Here’s some information from the EnergyStar program on making sure dorm rooms are energy efficient.

Many national and Minnesota cooperatives help promote Rachel’s Challenge, a program designed to honor the memory of Rachel Scott, a young woman killed in the tragic Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.

From the Rachel’s Challenge website:

“Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for one of the most life-changing school programs in America.

Powerful video/audio footage of Rachel’s life and the Columbine tragedy holds students spell-bound during a one hour school presentation that motivates them to positive change in the way they treat others.”

Connexus Energy will sponsor several Rachel’s Challenge events in September, and Dakota Electric has also sponsored several programs in its service territory.

ORMAT’s OREG3 pipeline compressor station heat recovery generator is located near Trimont, Minnesota on the Northern Border pipeline. Great River Energy has a power purchase agreement with ORMAT for the output (up to 5.5 MW) of the generator. There are several other similar projects “upstream” from this one on the Northern Border Pipeline. ORMAT is interested in developing project at other locations on other pipelines as well.

The project recovers energy from the exhaust of the natural gas fired combustion turbine which mechanically drives the natural gas compressor in the compressor station. Since no additional fuel is consumed in producing electricity from the project, there are no additional emissions. Great River Energy believes the energy the project produces will “count” towards meeting a portion of the Minnesota energy conservation goal.

The generator can only run when the compressor is operating. Similar to a “run of river” hydro facility which runs in proportion to the water flow in the river, this could be called a “run of pipeline” facility. We entered into the PPA with the expectation of a fairly high capacity factor for energy production from the facility. We also expect the output will tend to be fairly well correlated to our load and energy market prices.

The PPA term is nominally 20 years; it will terminate on December 31, 2030.

Many Minnesota electric cooperatives are issuing conservation appeals today. If you plan to use appliances like dishwashers and clothes washing machines, try to wait until later after electric use has peaked and wholesale electric prices go down.

From the Arrowhead Electric blog:

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative and its cooperative partners are appealing to our member-owners to reduce energy consumption on Tuesday, August 3rd between the hours of 1:00pm and 8:00pm.

Forecasted high temperatures in the upper mid-west is causing regional utilities including Great River Energy to anticipate higher than average summer energy prices due to increased demand for electricity.

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative expects to pay nearly 45% more for all the electricity we purchase during this time compared to electricity purchased on other days of the year. You can lower your cooperatives wholesale power costs and lessen the impact on your electric bill by reducing your electricity consumption on Tuesday, August 3rd from 1:00pm to 8:00pm. Waiting till after 8pm to run appliances such as the dishwasher and washing machine go along ways to helping reduce the impact of higher than normal electricity costs.

For more information on how to conserve energy or to learn about Arrowhead Electric Conservation appeals please contact Arrowhead Electric Cooperative at 1-800-864-3744 or 663-7239.