“What we didn’t know in 2017 was how quickly the Xcel grid was expanding.””

Eryka Thorley

NEDERLAND - On July 15, 2025, Sustainability Coordinator Cass Grady and members of the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) led the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) in a discussion regarding a draft Renewable Energy Goals Statement.

This formally sets a goal for the Town of Nederland to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.

In 2017, the Town passed Resolution 2017-10, which set a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy for all of Town’s municipal buildings by 2020, and for all of the town by 2025. That resolution required the development of a preliminary plan for reaching the 2025 goal, which the SAB had commissioned to the University of Colorado Boulder’s Masters in the Environment program as a capstone project.

Grady stated that “unforeseen factors,” including the COVID-19 pandemic, created issues precluding reaching those previously set goals. 

It was also stated by the SAB that there were issues in retaining accurate accounting of local energy use over the last seven years due to a “changing policy landscape.”

This had caused major utility providers to make a push towards adopting Colorado state-mandated renewable energy portfolio standards, which demanded Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) from municipalities.

An REC is described as representing “one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource and delivered to the grid.” RECs are used “in carbon accounting to verify claims of renewable energy use.”

The presentation of the renewable energy goals statement for the BOT came just two weeks after Trustees and the SAB engaged in a work session with the goal of clarifying the SAB’s role and ensuring alignment with the Town’s goals.

These are to be updated and set during upcoming strategic planning sessions. 

Though an official agenda had listed a discussion on the Renewable Energy Goals Statement, review of the statement was tabled because of other discussions regarding adherence to sustainability standards across all projects, the updating of a Sustainability Scorecard to be used in conjunction with the planning process, and past professional disagreements regarding procedure and the repealing of the Rights of Nature.

These discussions went over the time allotted.  

The SAB believes that the 2030 goal line is achievable, as it aligns with Xcel Energy’s own goal of delivering 100% carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050.

The SAB also expects to collaborate with Xcel Energy’s Partners In Energy (PIE) program to set and implement a goal and an action plan for electrification initiatives.

Previous collaboration with Xcel and PIE yielded the development of an Energy Action Plan in 2019 and an Electric Vehicle Action Plan in 2023. Town staff expect to draft a new Energy Action Plan this year.

On August 24, 2023, the SAB discussed with PIE the results from a renewable electricity gap analysis, which provided data tracking of Nederland’s energy usage. This was aimed at assisting the Town in reaching its original 2025 goal for 100% renewable energy.

The projections made from the analysis hypothesized that Nederland will only reach 63% renewable energy by 2025, leaving a 37% gap, or 4,000 MWh of the town’s roughly 10,000 MWh usage on a yearly basis.

Nederland is currently only 4% short of that projection. 

Representatives from PIE then suggested adjusting the goal line for 100% renewable energy to 2030; instituting energy efficiency campaigns, including home electrification; engaging in a community solar garden and rooftop solar program; having all of Nederland’s municipal buildings run on solar energy; and hosting focus groups and collaborating in special events in order to garner public interest and support.  

 Additionally, through working with PIE, the SAB hopes to establish a more actionable and “time-sensitive” carbon reduction goal, such as the goal of being 100% carbon-free, 24/7, by 2045, which has been set by the California Energy Commission.

The draft energy goals statement introduces many concepts and recommendations for action. However, Grady and the SAB clarified that feasibility and financial considerations need to be weighed further.

These recommendations include transitioning the Town’s fleet to electric vehicles and installing fleet-specific EV chargers, and achieving 100% renewable energy for all its municipal buildings by refocusing on its 20-year partnership with Oak Leaf Solar, which expires in 2038. 

The partnership with Oak Leaf Solar involves a connection to one of their solar gardens that helped to generate 84% of the energy for Nederland’s municipal buildings in 2022.

Other recommendations for action are to encourage grid saturation across all of Nederland’s businesses, to eliminate tailpipe emissions, and to create and initiate a Beneficial Electrification Plan with the goal of replacing natural gas use in local homes.

“What we didn’t know in 2017 was how quickly the Xcel grid was expanding,” Eryka Thorley of the SAB explained to Trustees. “That’s where this whole Beneficial Electrification Plan really comes into play as it’s an opportunity to help support our residents moving towards electrification.”

Thorley reiterated the SAB’s goal of providing the community with equitable access to these resiliency and sustainability measures without creating any new burdens on the Town’s staff and budget.  

SAB Member Jack Craighill Kerby-Miller stated that, despite the pandemic and the policies that made it difficult to reach the 2025 goal for 100% renewable energy, Nederland is currently on track for hitting the 2030 goal thanks to joining rooftop solar and community solar garden programs, and to the acceleration of Xcel’s own priorities regarding renewable energy.

“As the one who pushed for 2025,” Trustee Kristopher Larsen said with a laugh, “even back when we pushed for it it was a big ask, but I think we’ve seen successes.

“We’re at 59%. We’ve moved quickly to getting the Town facilities fully solar, and by being ahead of the curve and pushing hard we helped the larger picture by pressuring Xcel; we succeeded in changing the landscape. I really want to congratulate SAB for pushing on this,” Larsen said. 

The BOT approved amending Resolution 2017-10 to move the goal post for 100% renewable energy up to 2030.

As for providing the SAB with direction on how to achieve the new goal, Trustees suggested progressing with current solar partnerships and with grid protection initiatives, and added that the possible acquisition of the Eldora ski resort should be reviewed under a sustainability lens.

Regarding the Town’s partnerships with solar providers, back in 2023 the SAB recommended contracting with Pivot Energy as a more accessible alternative with a more streamlined user interface than the Town had experienced with their previous provider, US Solar. 

The Town expected up to 300 residential and business customers to sign up to existing solar gardens through US Solar, as well as expecting the construction of a Nederland-specific solar garden.

Several user-related issues with the registration process and with US Solar’s website caused delays in the SAB’s solar initiatives. The website was shut down for a period of time, precluding any new customers from signing up, while those who were able to sign up were either confused by the process or dissuaded by the perceived invasive requests for personal financial information.

At that time, Pivot Energy touted having roughly 100 households-worth of community solar available, though without a contract, none of it was reserved for Nederland. Grady explained to the BOT that, while the Town is under contract with Pivot, there is still a waiting list for those Nederland residents who wish to sign up. 

Trustee Luke Miller asked about the current status of the microgrid project currently covering the Nederland Community Center.

Town Manager Jonathan Cain detailed how the microgrid works as a backup system for the Center and that it required “politely asking” Xcel many times to attend to the proper connection of the Center to the grid, which posed many challenges, but is now working properly. 

A suggestion was made that more generators and battery backup systems should be considered for other crucial parts of Nederland’s power grid, including the schools and fire department.

In response, SAB Member Rab Lachance noted that new technology soon to be marketed, including bidirectional EV chargers, could solve the Town’s grid protection concerns for a fraction of the cost of other backup systems if done in conjunction with establishing an EV fleet.

Regarding the realities of the Eldora acquisition, Thorley asked for Trustees and Town staff to look into whether Eldora’s discounted subscriptions to local solar gardens can be transferred to Nederland in the event of a successful acquisition. 

Additionally, Grady stated that the SAB is well aware of what the acquisition of Eldora will mean in terms of their goals. 

 “If that (acquisition) goes through, then we’ll have to consider the facilities and infrastructure that Eldora compounds onto the Town, and how to achieve 100% renewable energy with that added infrastructure.”