Tri-State Generation and Transmission has ramped up a new pilot program for heat pump water heaters. This heat pump uses a new technology and Tri-State, in cooperation with Mountain Parks Electric in Granby and Morgan County Rural Electric Association in Fort Morgan, is testing that technology.
Tri-State is the power supplier for 18 of the 22 electric co-ops in Colorado and offers its member co-ops a variety of energy efficiency rebates to offer to member-owners for installing more efficient electric devices. However, before Tri-State rolls out a new efficiency incentive, pilot programs are often used to help understand the value and benefits of new technologies. That’s just what Tri State and its members are doing with a pilot program for Energy Star-rated air source electric heat pump water heaters now available from Rheem and G.E.
“In exchange for our gathering the owners’ experiences and other performance data for the new heaters, we will reimburse up to $1,500 toward the cost of these Energy Star-qualified units for 30 water heaters placed throughout our member service territory,” said Keith Emerson, Tri-State’s coordinator of energy management and energy services.
Tri-State’s pilot heat pump water heater program began in 2009 and has been extended through 2010. Emerson says that the new generation of heat pump water heaters only began hitting the market during the latter portion of 2009 and the program was extended another year to get them into more consumers’ homes.
To date, there are only two air-source heat pump water heaters on member co-op lines. One is in the mechanical room at Mountain Parks Electric’s headquarters building in Granby and the other is in the home of Arnie Good, a member consumer of Morgan County REA.
Good, who has only had the heater in his home a short time, said he first discovered the technology after researching a list of qualifying federal energy rebates available for efficiency improvements.
“I was going down the list, looking to make some improvements in my home and I noticed that the heat pump water heater was the only water heater listed that offers a tax credit from the government. That was the first I’d ever heard of one,” he added.
Emerson said he is very interested in seeing the performance data once the units have been in homes for a year or so.
“To be Energy Star-rated, a unit must have an energy factor of at least 2.0, which means it produces two units of heat for every unit of electricity. That could save the consumer up to $290 a year over conventional electric units,” said Emerson.
The air-source heat pump water heater works much like a refrigerator in reverse. The heat pump extracts the heat from warm air inside the home, intensifies the heat with a compressor, delivers the heat to the water and exhausts the cooled air. Airsource heat pumps aren’t for everyone. For instance, they need to be located in a good-sized room.
For more information about the airsource electric heat pump water heater program contact Keith Emerson at Tri-State.
— Charlie Powell, Network Magazine, Tri-State