Holy Cross Energy Unifies Renewable Power Generation Across Colorado with Emerson

Holy Cross Energy is using multinational automation firm Emerson’s Ovation Green supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software to operate, monitor and optimize renewable energy generation across four critical sites in Western Colorado.

Holy Cross Energy plays a vital role in supporting the local economy by powering colleges, ranching operations, residential infrastructure and the tourism industry, including world-renowned resorts such as Vail and Aspen. The member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative supplies sustainable, reliable energy that aligns with the environmental values of its customers and maintains affordable, stable energy costs.

Power purchase agreements (PPAs) with local renewable energy providers enable Holy Cross Energy to provide local, low-cost renewable energy to its members. Emerson helps Holy Cross Energy manage four power plants delivering energy via solar, wind and battery storage to over 45,000 members, almost 52,000 households and 60,000 active meters with a peak load of about 300 MW.

The customized Ovation Green SCADA software at Mamm Creek, High Mesa, Hunter, and Bronco Plains II facilities are designed to deliver highly granular control so operators can manage plant performance in real time as well as set day-ahead and multi-day-ahead schedules for controlling the plants hour-by-hour.

To manage Holy Cross Energy’s renewable generation, operators use Emerson’s Ovation Green SCADA to control dispatch of power from the generation sites. Key performance indicator dashboards, battery energy storage system schedulers, PPA and operational compliance dashboards and telemetry and downtime analysis in the software provide a high level of supervisory control over all assets and help users in the 24/7 centralized control center better understand operations so they can best serve cooperative members.

The software also enables the operations and business teams to quickly sift through large amounts of historical production data in different formats for use in billing, tracking and trending plant performance over time and understanding whether the plants are meeting the requirements of their contracts.