Natural gas plant planned by Tri-State a no-go

Wholesale provider says it expects surplus capacity through 2035 despite absence of 307-megawatt plant near Craig

by Allen Best

In planning its energy future, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association saw a new natural gas plant as a crucial cornerstone even as it added giant amounts of wind, solar and storage.

That plan has stalled. The Broomfield-based wholesale provider reported in March that it no longer expects to execute a contract for the 307-megawatt plant it had planned in Moffat County near Craig. (The above photo is of a

The developer “had not posed bid security and faced pricing and feasibility issues,” Tri-State reported in a March 17 filing with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The same problem killed a 200-megawatt wind project in Wyoming.

Despite these eliminated additions to Tri-State’s generating fleet, the utility reports no problems meeting demand of its members and other commitments. In 2026, for example, it projects having 123 megawatts of excess resource capacity after demands from its members and contract sales are met. This is in addition to reserves. Tri-State projects having varying amounts of excess generating capacity through 2035.

Tri-State’s Amy Robertson cautioned that these projections of excess capacity assume new resources get developed as planned, existing resources perform as expected, and demand grows as expected, among other factors.

Several projects planned along with the natural gas plant remain scheduled to go forward, including these in Colorado:

50 megawatts of solar in Montrose County (2026).
200 megawatts of storage in Moffat County (2030).
150-megwatt storage near Burlington (2027).
200 megawatts of wind near Arriba, east of Denver (2029).

Tri-State has also executed contracts for 100 megawatts of solar and 150 megawatts of storage in New Mexico. The wholesale provider has 14 electrical cooperatives in Colorado who are members along with others in Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.

In addition, Tri-State has some capacity to add 50 megawatts of storage to a project near Burlington.

Also an issue in Tri-State’s stance is the absence of assured federal funds. In October 2024, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet announced that Tri-State had been awarded $2 billion in low-interest loans in the New ERA program. That was during the presidency of Joe Biden.

Donald Trump, upon election as president, has brought a different attitude about renewable energy. In the case of New ERA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the funding in principle on March 25. However, certainty for indidividual recipients, including Tri-State, is taking longer.

Several other Colorado cooperatives are similarly waiting payment. The sole exception — in the nation — as of mid-April was United Power. The Brighton-based electrical cooperative, a former member of Tri-State, announced at its annual meeting it has been informed it has been approved for getting increments of its allocated $262 million in the next several years.

As for natural gas plants, demand has ramped up across the national in response to escalating demand caused by data centers but also, to a lesser degree, from new demands for EVs and all-electric houses.

In July 2025, RMI cited projections of the North American Energy Reliability Corporation that national peak demands will increase by 150 gigawatts over the next decade. That represents an 18% growth in the nation’s generating capacity.

Now, like Tri-State, many utilities are finding that the waiting time for gas plants has lengthened. Colorado Springs Utilities, for example, cited such difficulties in seeking legislative approval for delay of closing its Ray Nixon coal plant.

In a February report, Ed Crooke of Wood Mackenzie, the data analyst and consultant, reported that supply chains for new natural gas components has lengthened to five years, compared to two years as recently as 2021.

Now, prices have escalated in response to the surging demand. Wood Mackenzie projects prices will begin to moderate in 2027. Three companies — GE Venova, Siemens Energy, and Mitsubishi Power — together serve more than 75 of projects under construction. All three have begun investing in major expansion of their manufacturing capacity. Siemens, for example, is investing $1 billion to ramp up manufacturing of U.S. grid and gas turbine equipment. Mitsubishi plans to double its gas-turbine manufacturing capacity.

Some utilities that acted fast missed the delay. Brighton-based United, Colorado’s largest electrical cooperative based on demand, celebrated completion of a 162-megawatt gas plant near Keenesburg. It had pulled the trigger on the $250 million plant just two years before. Unlike Tri-State, it is not regulated by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Colorado-based RMI in a June 2025 posting said the supply chain constraints threatened grid stability but urged utilities to look at more affordable near-term solutions. These strategies include energy efficiency, virtual power plants, and grid-enhancing technologies.

Some in Colorado argue that Tri-State and other utilities should not invest in natural gas capacity. Western Clean Energy Campaign made that argument to the PUC last year when Tri-State was seeking PUC approval of its plans.

Eric Frankowski, the group’s director, also challenges United’s investment in the 162-megawatt plant near Keenesburg that was completed last summer. The plant is seen above.

The plant “may in fact look wise right now, but they spent a quarter billion dollars to build that plant, and it will take decades for United’s customers to pay it off,” said Frankowski.

Given how rapidly the energy landscape is changing, with costs for clean energy and storage costs falling rapidly, United’s gas plant, called the Mountain Peak Power, may become a stranded asset in the next 5 to 15 years, he said.

“At that point, looking back with hindsight, United may very well be saying, ‘Damn, maybe having some prudent oversight from the PUC might not have been such a bad thing,’” he said.

By state law, the PUC has oversight over Tri-State, as a wholesale supplier, but not United Power or other electrical cooperatives.