Estes Park Powers Up: A Battery Solution for a Resilient Future

Nestled in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, Estes Park is a remote community well-acquainted with the challenges of extreme weather. As Joe Lockhart, an employee of Estes Park Power and Communications, puts it, "In the past two years, the town has lost 100% power three times." These power outages, often caused by severe weather events like wildfires, floods, and winter storms, disrupt daily life and critical services that keep Estes Park running. To address this, the town has taken a proactive step towards a more resilient future by partnering with the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), the Colorado Energy Office, the Colorado Resiliency Office, Platte River Power Authority, and Estes Park Power and Communications to implement a battery energy storage system (BESS) initiative.

The BESS will play a crucial role in expediting power restoration to critical infrastructure during outages. As Mark Igel, a local business owner, emphasizes, "having electricity is one of the basic expectations of being able to run a business and stay in business." With 4.5 million visitors each year, tourism relies on Estes Park maintaining power to continue serving the community. The battery could also enable critical infrastructure in the community to operate independently during grid disruptions and help deepen the integration of future renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

The project is being partially funded through GDO's Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants Program (funded under Section 40101(d) of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). This program aims to strengthen and modernize America's power grid against extreme weather, wildfires, and other natural disasters. To date, the Colorado Energy Office has received more than $25 million in formula grant funding, which is being sub-awarded to local projects. Estes Park is one of the first projects being put into action under this program.

By advancing grid resilience solutions like Estes Park's BESS initiative, Platte River, Estes Park, and the Colorado Energy Office aim to improve the quality of life for residents and businesses by ensuring reliable power, while helping the community attract more visitors, stimulating economic growth, and safeguarding essential services.

Want to learn more? Check out our video to hear directly from the people behind this project: Powering Communities: Building Resilience in Estes Park, CO.

Visit our Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grantsfor more information about funding opportunities and investments that are helping strengthen and modernize America's power grid against extreme weather. Stay plugged in with us as we continue to share the powerful work happening across the Grid Deployment Office by subscribing to our blogsand connecting with us on Facebookand LinkedIn.