A Model for Cooperation

Cooperation is something that many talk about but few are able to demonstrate. 

In 1998, Sunflower not only talked about cooperation, but also showed its ability to come together with others to achieve goals that could never have been reached alone. Sunflower celebrated 41 years of service in 1998. In 1999, we finalized strategies that will chart our course for our next 40 years. Sunflower’s successful implementation of these plans will depend on our ability to work with our six member systems and our creditors to adapt to the evolving marketplace.

Industry Change

For nearly three years, the Kansas Legislature has been involved in discussions about how and when to deregulate the electric power industry. Sunflower, our distribution members, our statewide association, and our sister G&T in eastern Kansas have all been involved in these discussions since the beginning. These cooperatives are all working together for the benefit of people in rural Kansas.

In addition to other issues, we are concerned about the tax implications any restructuring proposal may have on those of us living in rural Kansas. At the invitation of our national electric cooperative organization, NRECA, Sunflower participated in a tax task force organized by the National Association of State Legislatures. Besides NRECA, Sunflower was the only voice in that study for the people living in rural areas of the United States.

Another vital area of concern in our industry includes the rapid change of environmental regulation. This year we worked with the Western Fuels Association, our cooperatively owned coal supplier, to educate the general public about the potential for devastation to the U.S. economy if the global warming treaty provisions agreed to in Kyoto are implemented.

It is distressing to see much of the world heading down a path to economic ruin on the basis of flawed and misrepresented science. Sunflower collaborated on climate change and related environmental issues with NRECA and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED). Our success dealing with environmental issues must come from working with these and other organizations because we are unable to manage these matters completely on our own. These issues are vitally important to Sunflower’s long-term success and cannot be overlooked as we plan for our future.

Facility Improvement and Expansions

As a result of innovative thinking, Sunflower was able to improve the generation capacity of Holcomb Station by 10%. Once again, cooperation was essential. Our staff realized the need for a routine maintenance outage on Holcomb Station. By working closely with General Electric and others, we crafted a proposal that resulted in the installation of advanced aero-design blading on the turbine. In addition to the turbine-generator improvements, we demolished and replaced the cooling tower, completed a full boiler assessment, removed and replaced the air heater basket system, performed major repairs to our storm-damaged coal stacker system and opened Phase II at our landfill site. Success in these projects truly reflects the application of our model for cooperation.

In partnership with Pioneer Electric Cooperative, we were successful in our efforts to provide electric power to the new Amoco gas processing facility near Ulysses. This achievement was the result of a great deal of collaboration, not only with each other, but with Amoco as well. This load is projected to be 50 MW with nearly a 100% load factor. This new business required Sunflower to expand our transmission facilities. In addition to the new transmission line built to serve the new load, several other upgrades and improvements were made across the system to serve Sunflower’s load growth.

In 1995, Sunflower realized it needed to replace its aging System Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system with a state-of-the-art Energy Control System. The project called for the replacement of 50 field Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) for additional functionality with the new system. The project was completed in 1997. This was a three-year effort that required the close cooperation among several departments and reflects the commitment of Sunflower people to provide reliable service to its customers.

The Future of the Electric Utility Industry

We cannot predict what the future holds for the rural electric power industry. However, there are a few things we know for sure. We must work closely with one another to preserve the hard-won resources we did not have in the early part of this century. If we seek only self-preservation without consideration of the long-term impact of our decisions on our customers, we are doomed to failure. If, on the other hand, we stay focused on the needs of those customers and fight on their behalf, rural Kansas will be able to prosper long into the 21st century and beyond. We are committed to a competitive electric power industry, as long as controls are in place to make sure that we don’t harm those weakest among us. 

That is why we believe that any change in the industry toward a competitive structure must ensure that the industry provides competition with a conscience.