Colorado Co-op Tops Energy List

A new energy storage project at United Power, an electric cooperative headquartered in Brighton, put the co-op on an annual top 10 utility list.

United Power added an energy storage system with 18.2 megawatt-hours of interconnected capacity to its system in 2018. With the largest battery storage system in Colorado, United Power was the only utility in the state to make the list compiled by the Smart Electric Power Alliance. It was ranked number 10 on the list and, with only 92,000 meters, it was the smallest utility on the list.

The survey ranked battery storage initiatives from a mix of investor-owned, municipal and cooperative utility systems.

“Being recognized in the top 10 with some of the largest utilities across the country is an honor and a testament to the innovation that our board and staff are working hard to achieve. We want to ensure that the latest emerging energy technologies are powering our members into the future,” said John Parker, United Power’s chief executive officer. “Despite being one of the smaller utilities on this list, we continue to be leaders in energy innovation … when measured against some of the largest investor-owned utilities across the country.”

“The utilities in the top 10 are truly spearheading the progress we’ve seen in the electric sector this past year,” said Julia Hamm, SEPA’s president and CEO.