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.
Federal help for Tri-State’s stranded assets?
Wholesaler has coal-burning units in Colorado, Wyoming. and Arizona —and mounds of debt. How much can the Inflation Reduction Act help?
Phase out oil and gas leasing in Colorado?
Colorado 350 has set out to ask Colorado voters in 2024 to phase out new oil and gas leasing before 2031. Why so soon?
A gigawatt of solar in Colorado’s wheat country
Major farmland owner sees huge upside to its investment in dryland farming country along Xcel Energy’s planned transmission line
Ruckus about Holy Cross solar rates
Electrical cooperative says new rates needed to help sustain electrical grid as it nears 100% carbon free energy. Solar installers see it very differently.
Buckets of federal funds for electric coops
Inflation Reduction Act delivers nearly $10 billion for allocation to rural electric cooperative and power providers
Tip of a Yampa Valley iceberg of solar?
Four-megawatt solar array to break ground in Craig. How many more will come in northwestern Colorado as the coal era ends by 2030?
What Fenberg’s energy bill does – and does not — do
Proposal would trim Xcel’s sails, start pushing back on natural gas expansion, but falls far short of the major overhaul that some believe is needed
Hydrogen: high hopes but also skepticism
Existing Pawnee coal plant would be reconfigured to burn hydrogen to create electricity. New research, however, warns that hydrogen could be a step backward.
How can Holy Cross possibly leap this high?
Glenwood Springs-based cooperative says it can leap from 50% emission-free energy to 92% by next year—despite owning a coal plant. Exactly how do this work?
Talking clean heat and other topics
Megan Gilman talks about equity, resource adequacy and other elements of her work in overseeing Colorado’s energy transition as a Colorado PUC commissioner. That will soon include overseeing plans by natural gas utilities to displace emissions when heating buildings.
Readying for a ripping runoff
With southwestern Colorado’s snowpack at 183% of average, a reservoir manager admits to a “pucker factor” when contemplating spring runoff.
Awash in snowmelt on the Colorado
Once-in-a-century runoff predicted for river. “Don’t squander it,” water officials warn.
The Blink of an Eye
During the long, leisurely days of 2021, there were split-second decisions, the difference between darkness and light so terribly narrow.
