Benefits - Royal Gorge Energy

What can Royal Gorge do for your County?

Batteries keep the lights on by providing backup power when it’s needed the most. In doing so, they can act as a clean substitute to fossil fuel ‘peaker’ plants.
As designed, the Project can store enough electricity to power up to 40,000 southeast Colorado homes and businesses for up to 4 hours
Battery storage systems are built-to-last in all-weather, purpose-built outdoor enclosures and have a useful life of 20+ years.

Expected to generate over $10 million in property and sales tax over the useful life of the Project
Dozens of new construction jobs created over the 8-12 month construction period
Opportunities for full-time employment for operations and maintenace
Induced local economic activity

Batteries lessen the total energy needed by a utility by acting as a backup source of power
They also increase the efficiency of the electrical grid and lower transmission congestion, particularly in geographically constrained areas. This cuts operational costs for the area utility
By smoothing variability in renewable energy production, batteries also allow utilities to leverage lower cost renewable energy

Batteries help maximize the value of renewables by smoothing variable generation and storing it for when it’s most needed.
Batteries can charge and discharge in a fraction of a second, instantaneously balancing electricity supply and demand.
This helps Colorado achieve its mandated goal of 90% zero carbon energy generation by 2050 and Black Hills Electric’s goal of 80% carbon reduction by 2030.
Batteries lower transmission congestion and improve the efficiency of the electrical grid, particularly in geographically constrained regions.