How NREL and the Nuggets are alike
Finally, the Nuggets are in the NBA finals, but the seeds were planted a decade ago. NREL decades ago helped push solar to where it is today, Now it is looking beyond 2030.
Farmington, a town in need of a jolt
The sky is cleaner now that the coal plants have started closing, but how will that economic void be filled? That answer isn’t clear.
Democrats aplenty gather to celebrate a Republican
New wrinkles in ag program may yield more farmers enlisting in effort to slow Ogallala Aquifer declines — and keep Colorado out of compact conundrums
In Pueblo, a study of what comes after coal
Pueblo will always have chiles. But coal? It’s gone after 2030. A committee is studying energy alternatives. Nuclear is among them.
Nuclear is on the table in Colorado
Can nuclear replace the tax base, jobs and generation of coal plants at Pueblo and Craig? Maybe, but tough questions remain to be answered.
Why an update of Colorado’s roadmap?
The Colorado Energy Office plans to update the state’s greenhouse gas reduction roadmap. Here you can expect the biggest tweaks
Solar + storage at the pueblos
How Kit Carson Electric has worked with Taos and other pueblos in northern New Mexico to develop solar + storage
Bill Gates invests in Pueblo storage project
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst gives $20 million to test iron-rust storage at sites of two Xcel coal plants
Agrivoltaics & aquavoltaics, too
Colorado will probe the pairing of solar panels with canals and reservoirs. Can solar help solve the San Luis Valley water woes?
Growing eggplants & electricity to benefit both?
In Colorado’s North Fork Valley, Mark Waltermire grows hundreds of varieties of vegetables. Will he be able to add electricity to his community offering?
Tri-State’s latest credit slip
Wall Street sees clouded uncertainty for Colorado’s second largest electrical utility, but a bright future for another Colorado cooperative.
The latest in Boulder’s climate lawsuit
Climate lawsuit by three Colorado jurisdictions against Suncor and ExxonMobil stays in a Colorado court. No trial date set.
What difference will this new Colorado PUC director make?
Two former chair of the Colorado PUC say who is running the show behind the scenes can matter greatly in this giant pivot of energy systems
Major water bills in 2023 legislative session
Lawmakers addressed everything from baby wipes to water-wise landscaping to the Colorado River in session that wrapped up this week
Pumped-storage hydro in Colorado
Renewables need storage, and pumped-storage hydro provides it. Will these projects help Colorado achieve its decarbonization goals?
Will nuclear energy arrive on time and at cost?
No doubt, nuclear energy has key advantages. So why isn’t it likely to be the silver bullet that some people in Craig and Pueblo crave?
Whitewater, cold and fast, in Colorado’s rivers
The Dolores River rarely has enough water for river rafters. Not this year. It looks to be a wild season for boaters on that nad other rivers in Colorado
Buzz-over country in northwest Colorado
Transmission lines carrying massive amounts of wind-generated electricity from Wyoming will cross Colorado like 8 and 12-lane interstate highways with no exits or on-ramps. Why is that?
Tri-State and the big bad wolf
Member cooperatives are tempted to hop the fence to graze on greener renewable energy. Chief executive Duane Highley warns his flock about a big, bad wolf called resource adequacy. Can he keep them in his fold?
At United Power, talk of hyper-localization
CEO of electric cooperative dismisses “doom and gloom.” But he does outline a future after Tri-State that will be more complex.
