GUNNISON COUNTY ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION

[GCEA News]

coloradocountrylife.coop 74 SEPTEMBER 2016

Gunnison County Electric Association serves Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties and operates a unique system. GCEA has four substations; Skito, Alkali, Crested Butte and Lake City. Tri-State Generation and Transmis-sion, GCEA’s Power Supplier owns the “high side” of the power transformer in these substations where 115,000 volts of electric-ity comes in. GCEA takes ownership of the equipment where the voltage is reduced to 24,900 volts. GCEA’s phase to phase voltage is 24,900 volts and its single phase voltage is 14,400 volts. From these power lines, through the use of transformers, GCEA offers several lower voltages to serve the needs of the members.

What makes this area unique and more vulnerable than most systems is that three of our four substations are radial fed, mean-ing that there is only one source to these substations. Only Skito Substation, located in Gunnison, has the option for two sources of feed. Tri-State’s transmission system is a dependable source for the valley; how-ever, if one problem occurs, such as a fire, flood, avalanche or even a broken pole, we could be in the dark for several hours. A recent large outage occurred June 23, 2016, while we were assisting Tri-State in a switching procedure, which would transfer the supply of power from the Crested Butte Substation onto the Alkali Substation through GCEA’s distribution lines. While we have done this several times before without issue, this time we had a cable failure and a switch failed.

This caused a loss of service to over 5,000 meters in the north end of our service territory. Thanks to the quick work of our line crews, we restored service to all but 20 meters in less than an hour. Switching out substations is not the kind of work we enjoy, as the system is working in an altered state and we have to ensure proper voltage and protection schemes. In fact, the 5,000 meters that were lost were all being served on one three-phase line, so in these situations we have a lack of redundancy. We researched the possibility of bringing transmission lines over Kebler Pass and Slumgullion Pass; however, this seems to be impossible because of rough terrain and the need for a 100-foot wide easement free of trees. I believe the other utilities that operate in our service territory have similar circumstances to overcome.

Another reason you may experience a prolonged outage is the way we operate our system when the fire danger is high. We have over 1,000 miles of line, and a lot of this line

runs through rough, remote terrain far from any populated areas. In normal operation we have breakers that will open and close the line in a matter of seconds to clear a momentary fault, like a tree branch falling on the line or a lightning strike. How-ever, when we are in

high fire danger we disable this feature so the power just goes off to minimize the potential of starting a fire. We are currently trying to obtain permits to bury some of these lines to help mitigate fire risk. We work closely with local officials to monitor this danger and try to make a safe, educated decision on

the operation of the system.

We had to leave members in the dark for a couple of days in remote areas when we had a line destroyed by an avalanche and needed to bring in experts from the ski area to help evaluate avalanche danger prior to making repairs. In some of these circumstances, in remote areas we had to trim and frame trees to restore power until the spring when we could bring in new poles and make the proper repairs. We do everything we can to ensure a depend-able supply of electricity to our members, but there will be circumstances beyond our control in which members may experience the loss of service.

These are just a few of the challenges we face and, even with some of the unique char-acteristics of our system, in a normal year we manage to keep the lights on more than 99.9 percent of the time.

How Vulnerable Is Your Supply of Electricity?ROGER GROGG || CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

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Roger Grogg

CO-OP CALENDARLABOR DAY

GCEA’S Gunnison and Crested Butte offices will be closed on Monday, September 5, 2016, in observance of Labor Day

Regular office hours will resume Tuesday, September 6 at 7:30 a.m.

A cable failure inside a substation.

[GCEA News]

coloradocountrylife.coop8 SEPTEMBER 2016

Gunnison County Electric Association doesn’t only believe in helping employees further their education, it also enjoys helping col-lege students further their knowledge with real-world experience. The electric co-op world is currently dealing with a lot of retire-ments, which means a lot of knowledge is walking out the door. GCEA needs to get new and excited people in the electric co-op industry. One way to help the younger generation to get excited about electric co-ops is by giving them firsthand experience.

GCEA recently hired Shane McGuinness as an intern in the information technology and general administration department for six months. Not only will Shane be receiv-ing real-world experience in the IT world, but he will also learn about electric co-ops and how they do business. He assists Sys-tem Administrator Christopher Schodorf with various projects and duties. His duties include, but are not limited to, provid-

ing technical assistance to GCEA employees; installing, modifying and repairing computers hardware and software; and assisting with the development and instal-lation of infrastructure.

Shane is a Gunnison local who loves the mountain lifestyle. He graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a bachelor’s

degree in computer informational systems. He is the son of David and Tina McGuin-ness and has one brother, Dustin.

In Shane’s free time, he enjoys being outdoors fishing, camping, hiking, skiing and rafting. He grew up playing ice hockey and still enjoys playing the game. Shane is also an avid sports fan and likes to watch Ohio State football and professional and college hockey.

Shane has only been here a little while and already loves the work environment at GCEA. “I enjoy learning from all the staff members because [of] the intelligence throughout the office,” Shane said.

EMPLOYEE HIGHLIGHT Shane McGuinnessIT and Administration Intern

GENERGY EFFICIENCY CORNER

NOW IS THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT A HEATING SYSTEM TUNE-UP. Contact a licensed heating and cooling system contractor or plumber to inspect your furnace or boiler and ensure that they are working properly and efficiently. Most contractors and plumbers properly lubricate, balance, clean and repair your system before winter begins. When using your furnace, check the furnace filter regularly and change it when needed, up to monthly during the heating season. Not changing furnace filters can cause your furnace to work harder and less efficiently.

Shane McGuinness

Ron Copenhaver Engineering Technician II – 16 years

Christopher Schodorf System Administrator – 11 years

Brian Muth Engineering Technician II – 10 years

EMPLOYEE ANNIVERSARIES

[GCEA News]

coloradocountrylife.coop 94 SEPTEMBER 2016

Gunnison County Electric Association believes in employees learning about all aspects of the company. Job shadowing is a way for employees to learn about an-other employee’s job duties. Job shadow-ing is a work experience option where employees learn about a job by walking through the work day as a shadow with another co-worker. A few months ago I spent the day in Crested Butte learning about underground line locating with Carol Townsend, GCEA’s line locator and geographic information system (GIS) tech-nician.

Before we start, I want to give a little background on underground line locating and why we have line locators.

A locator is a person. A line locator needs to be independent, fast-paced, self-motivated, responsible and a good driver. It also helps to know your way around the area you will be working in.

A locate is the place. Property owners, either public (for example, a municipality) or private (for example, a homeowner), realize they need to do some construction work that will require digging. Homeown-ers call 811 to inform the state’s call center that they will need an underground wire locate because of a digging project. Each state has its own 811 call center to help you contact local companies. An 811 represen-tative will take the information about your digging project and notify the appropriate utility companies to mark buried lines so you can dig safely around them.

The day I spent locating underground line with Carol was busy. She usually starts her day in the office at 7:30 a.m. and spends the morning waiting for any new locates and planning her day. Depending on the day, she usually leaves the office around 9:30 or 10 a.m. Since we had a busy day ahead of us, we took off right away at 8 a.m. We hopped in her 2005 GMC pickup and headed toward Crested Butte. Carol loves her truck, so much so that she bought it from the company this year when it was time for her to get a new work truck.

From March through November, Carol is busy all over the county responding to locate requests. Her work cell phone is always buzzing with new locates. When she gets a locate she writes a note or, if she is in the office, she will print out the locate information. Before approaching a house or location, she will read all her notes thoroughly so she is aware of what needs to be done. When she is done with the lo-cate, she makes note of what time she was there and what she did. It is helpful, she said, because if someone calls her regard-ing the locate, she will most likely have the answers to their questions.

Halfway through the day she let me do some locates on my own. We located around a warehouse and I had to find all the underground wire, then go back and nail down plastic marking “whiskers” so if the paint washes away, the underground wire can still be located. The tool I used to locate was a Metrotech cable locator.

An added bonus of Carol’s job, is with some locates, she gets to do some explor-ing in the mountains and see some unique scenery and wildlife. One time, she said, a moose walked right in front of her truck.

To be a line locator, Carol says you must be a go-getter because you are constantly on the move and summer days are especially busy. Even though she had to explain to me how to do things, we still did 19 locates that day. I learned a lot that day and joked that I could be her backup when she needs help. I enjoyed shadowing Carol and appreciate what she does for the association and our membership; however, I think I should stick to marketing and communications, because you are in good hands with Carol.

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Carol Townsend, line locator and GIS technicianBY LOGANN LONG

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Logann Long nails down a plastic marker as part of a line locate.

Logann Long uses a Metrotech cable locator to find buried cables.

[GCEA News]

coloradocountrylife.coop10 SEPTEMBER 2016

September is National Preparedness Month. One of the best ways to stay ahead of storms, power outages and other emergen-cies is to plan ahead with an emergency preparedness kit.

Here is a list of items that should be considered. Be sure to keep these items in a cool, dry place and make sure all family members know where they are kept.

• Drinking water• Nonperishable food items• Can opener• Blankets, pillows and extra clothing• Basic first-aid supplies• Prescriptions• Basic toiletries• Flashlights• Battery-operated radio• Battery-operated clock• Extra batteries• Cell phone

The Lake City Community School (Hinsdale County School District RE1J) contacted GCEA about a commercial lighting rebate to upgrade the lights in the building to more efficient lights.

Kirk McKnight of Cooperative Lighting Business Partners joined GCEA and Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s Gary Myers on a few commercial energy audits with Alantha Garrison of GCEA to investigate lighting upgrades in Lake City. The group made an impromptu stop at the school while in town and visited with the school’s superintendent, Dr. Leslie Nichols. She had an opportunity to speak with Kirk about the lighting upgrade the school wants to do and tap into his expertise in lighting upgrades. Kirk submitted the winning bid when the school requested proposals for the project. Following the visit, the Lake City Community School worked directly with Kirk to purchase products and install them at a reasonable price, and at a cost that was much less than an original quote of $160,000. Total project expenses, includ-ing labor, totaled approximately $25,500, and with a rebate of about $3,600, the total project ended up costing the school

around $22,000. Dr. Nichols expressed her gratitude

for the help in accessing and utilizing the program, the patience and understand-ing Kirk expressed during multiple change orders throughout the installation process, the quality of the lights and energy use

reduction, the affordable price, and the rebate that allowed the school to perform the upgrades it investigated for several years. This rebate particularly highlights the effectiveness of working together in the cooperative spirit to help members achieve their energy efficiency goals.

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LIGHTING UPGRADE AT THE LAKE CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL

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Alantha Garrison of GCEA investigates lighting upgrades in Lake City.

Please help us help you. Attention GCEA members: It is important to keep your member information up to date so the member services team can ensure the best service possible. Having your current information on file increases GCEA’s ability to reach you with important information pertaining to your electric account.

Below are some items to keep up to date:• Adding someone to your account• Phone numbers*• Mailing address*• Email address*• Bank account or credit card information

*Most important information for us to have on file. Contact member services at 970-641-3520 to update any outdated information.

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR ANYTHING? KEEP YOUR CO-OP

UP TO DATE