Colusa Indian Community Council – 2022 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 owns and operates a cogeneration power plant and microgrid generation and distribution system that powers the Colusa Casino Resort, multiple tribal facilities, and 28 members’ homes.

The proposed project will expand the existing 12.47-kilovolt (kV) distribution system to approximately seven new homes and add light-emitting diode (LED) street lighting. It is estimated that the new households will require approximately 100 kilowatts (kW) peak demand and the streetlights will need approximately 3 kW. Annual energy consumption is estimated to be roughly 174,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for the seven new houses and 11 kWh for the street lighting. There are currently 28 households powered by the tribal microgrid. The proposed project will expand this to 35 households—a 25% increase. 

Project Description

Background

The Colusa Indian Community of more than 150 members is 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. The Colusa Indian Community owns and operates the Colusa Casino Resort, which is powered from the Tribe’s cogeneration plant. The cogeneration plant operates islanded and autonomous from the local electric utility and employs an uninterruptible power supply of 4-megavolt amperes with 15 minutes of battery backup to provide highly reliable power supply to the Colusa Casino Resort, as well as multiple tribal buildings, facilities, and 28 homes.

Previous and current energy projects include the installation of the original solar canopy, the complicated backup power system expansion, the initial housing power project co-funded by DOE, the DOE co-funded solar canopy expansion project, the gas engine replacement project, and the current DOE co-funded medium voltage distribution expansion to the Reese Road housing development.

Project Objectives

The overall project goal is to provide less expensive and more reliable electric service to the Tribe for the seven new households along with LED street lighting. Project-specific goals are as follows:

1. Provide power to approximately seven new homes
2. Generate one new, permanent, full-time job for the community
3. Use existing environmentally friendly power generation with less CO₂ emissions than coal-fired power plants used by utilities for power generation
4. Promote tribal energy independence
5. Provide more reliable power supply to the new houses
6. Save on utility bills over 30 years

Project Scope

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

• Expansion of underground distribution system
• Low-voltage service to approximately seven households and LED street lighting, including meters
• Advanced metering infrastructure

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 approach is intended to 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 established. Individual loads or households may be added to the tribally owned distribution system one at a time initially to resolve any issues without affecting the entire community. 

Advanced meter reading using advanced metering infrastructure will be implemented. The expected result is to provide a less expensive, highly reliable, automated, autonomous power system to power the new tribal households and street lighting. 

Project Location

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 to expand existing medium-voltage distribution to seven new households and install LED street lighting for the new development will be located on Tribal Trust Land along Reese Road in Colusa, California.