ENERGY PROGRAMS

TRICO’S POWER SUPPLY

As the electric industry and our membership grows and changes, Trico endeavors to satisfy the energy needs of the communities it serves with a flexible and responsive resource portfolio that reduces reliance on non-renewable resources while maintaining reliability and affordability.

Trico procures its energy requirements from long-term wholesale purchase power agreements and from its renewable energy portfolio. Trico’s energy mix includes generation from coal, natural gas, hydro-electric, and renewable sources. Over the last 10 years Trico has diversified its generation portfolio to reduce its reliance on coal and expand cost‐effective renewable resources, particularly solar.

TRICO’S ENERGY MIX

The chart here reflects Trico’s current energy mix. Energy from coal has reduced from 75% in 2010 to 28% in 2024, while energy from renewable resources has increased from less than 1% in 2010 to 35% in 2024. It is part of Trico’s mission to provide our Members with sustainable energy solutions, with a goal of reducing our carbon footprint by 50% by 2032.

TRICO’S RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO

Trico has committed to provide its Members environmentally conscientious and economically feasible energy alternatives. As a result, Trico has a robust renewable program and a portfolio of almost 50 megawatts (MW) of connected renewable generation capacity, providing a significant portion of Trico’s peak load requirements of approximately 230MW. Trico’s renewable portfolio includes community scale renewable resources and retail renewable programs.

COMMUNITY SCALE RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Trico has and continues to make community scale renewables part of its overall resource planning to meet the future energy needs of its Members. With economies of scale, large utility or community renewables are about a third the cost of smaller retail systems (e.g. residential homeowner and small business rooftop solar systems). Benefits of community scale renewables are shared by all the Trico membership.

Trico’s community scale systems provide over 25MW of capacity and over 45,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year of renewable energy or enough to power more than 4,500 homes. Trico’s community scale systems represent about 40% of Trico’s total renewable portfolio.

REQUEST A TOUR

You can request a tour of our Chirreon Solar & BESS facility by contacting us at sunwatts@trico.coop.

MEMBER-INSTALLED RENEWABLE PROGRAMS

Trico’s retail renewable programs (SunWatts) continue to play a significant role in the resource mix with distributed generation located at homes and businesses across the Trico service area. Retail renewables represent over 84,000MWh of energy per year and nearly 39MW of connected generation (almost exclusively solar).