FORT COLLINS, Colo. — On Monday, a spokesperson for the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) said customers could return to their usual household activities following a regional energy supply shortage.
"We think we're in pretty good shape right now, because we do have access to our natural gas combustion turbines and the wind power has returned to our system. So, we think we're more than able to meet the customer demand," Steve Roalstad said, a spokesperon for PRPA.
On Sunday, the company called for customers in Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland to reduce use of electricity from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. due to a shortage of natural gas and energy supply.
"We received notification from our supplier yesterday that natural gas, which we ordinarily use for our combustion turbines to produce electricity, had been curtailed," Roalstad said. "Therefore, approximately 40% of our generating capacity was rendered useless for us."
At the same time, wind-generated power and solar panels were hampered by the snow and extremely cold temperatures over the weekend. Snow and ice had built up on the turbine blades and snow had covered the panels that collected the sun's energy.
Roalstad that the willingness of customers to conserve energy allowed them to successfully deal with the situation.
"They did respond and they responded very positively to the point where we were able to meet demand throughout the entire evening," he said.
