Colusa Indian Community Council – 2019 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The Colusa Indian Community Council will expand existing tribal-owned electrical distribution to more than 30 households, a daycare, a mechanical shop, irrigation pumps, and a sewer lift station, which currently receive electric service from the local electric utility. As part of the project, automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) will be installed to allow the Tribe to set up its own electric metering and billing. 

This project will provide less expensive, more reliable electric energy than existing supply from the utility. Over its 30-year expected lifespan, the project is expected to save the Tribe $9 million, transferring funds from the incumbent utility to the Tribe’s own Economic Development Corporation.

This project will expand existing Tribe-owned medium-voltage distribution to provide highly reliable power supply to more than 30 households, a daycare, a mechanical shop, irrigation pumps, and a sewer lift station, which currently receive high-cost electric service from a local electric utility. As part of the project, AMR and AMI will be installed to allow the Tribe to set up its own electric metering and billing. 

The project location is on the Colusa Indian Reservation land. Control and management systems for the project will be integrated with those of the existing cogeneration plant and microgrid system. The expanded system is intended to meet the goals of the energy emergency and resiliency plan of the Tribe by providing highly reliable electric power to all tribal members living on the Reservation, as well as commercial, industrial, and agricultural facilities. Electric power service from the local utility experiences frequent interruption, especially during high wind, and lacks the capacity to supply all of the Tribe’s electric load.

The project will provide power to 40 of the 50 buildings on the Reservation and provide redundant power supply for all the buildings on the Reservation. The overall project goal is to provide less expensive and more reliable electric service to the Tribe for its members’ households, and commercial, agricultural and industrial facilities. Additionally, the goal is to expand the Tribe-owned electrical distribution. Specifically, the goal is to provide highly reliable electrical service to the Tribe and create capacity for future expansion.

The overall project scope includes the design, procurement, and installation of the following major components:

• Expansion of 12.47-kilovolt underground distribution system
• Low-voltage service to each household and each commercial, industrial, and agricultural facility, including billing meters
• AMR/AMI

The project will be coordinated and phased to minimize disruption of existing electrical service. Various components will be completed, commissioned, and put in service before the entire project is complete. This will ensure that any issues with various components can be resolved without jeopardizing the overall success of the project. For example, medium-voltage distribution lines will be installed, tested, and energized before service to individual households is transferred from the utility to the Tribe-owned distribution. Individual loads or households may be added to the Tribe-owned distribution one at a time initially to resolve any issues without affecting the entire community. 

Finally, automatic meter reading using AMI will be implemented. Before this automation is fully implemented, manual meter reading can be used to track energy use for billing purposes.

The expected result is to provide a less expensive, highly reliable, automated, autonomous power system to power all of the tribal households and commercial, agricultural, and industrial facilities on the Reservation with ample capacity for future growth.

The Colusa Indian Community’s 150-plus members reside in the heart of Northern California’s agricultural land on a 290-acre Reservation, along the bountiful Sacramento River, about four miles north of the Colusa city limits on Highway 45 in Colusa County, California. The project is located on Colusa Indian Reservation land. Control and management systems for this project will be integrated with the control and management systems of the existing cogeneration plant and microgrid system.