Two of three biggest members of Tri-State Generation and Transmission say they’re very unhappy with the new policies that are purported to provide transparency and increase member flexibility. Together, the two co-ops by July will represent upwards of 25% of the total demand among the by-then 42 members of Tri-State.
In 2006, directors of Delta-Montrose Electric were asked to commit to the middle of the 21st century to a coal plant to be built in the Kansas prairie. They had a different vision. More slowly, that wholesale provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, created a new vision, too, forced by the upheaval in the world of energy that is just now beginning.
Two interpretations of the Clean Water Act in Colorado, one involving a silver mine near Ouray and the second the sugar beet factory at Fort Morgan, figured into the U.S. Supreme Court decision involving groundwater pollution in Hawaii.
Supporters of Black Hills Energy assembled a $1.5 million campaign to defeat municipalization of the electrical utility in Pueblo, most of that money coming from unidentified sources. Can David prevail against these financial odds?
In an interview with proponents of municipalization of electrical power in Pueblo, Frances Koncilja, a former PUC commissioner in Colorado, accused Black Hills of being a rogue utility and an energizer vampire, sweet and cuddly by day, but by night trying to figure out how to steal every last dime out of Colorado’s steel town.
Pueblo voters on May 5 will decide whether to stick with their existing electrical utility, Black Hills Energy, or municipalize operations. Proponents and opponents frame their arguments in terms of opportunity and risk. The fulcrum for the debate is the high cost of electricity in Pueblo, which is among the highest in Colorado.
Colroado has begun laying out the path toward achieving its greenhouse gas reduction targets of 26% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. The roadmap, say state officials, is one that they hope will be useful as a model for other states.
Out for a Sunday afternoon ride in early February, two aging baby boomers unexpectedly came across drilling and oil and gas extraction among the bucolic rangelands of Eastern Colorado. Looking to take photographs, they became suspects and advised that public roads weren’t exactly public. Such have been the rising tensions in the growing tension around fossil fuel extraction.
During a time of stay-at-home orders, many people in metropolitan Denver and other parts of the rapidly urbanizing northern Front Range have few options for getting outdoors in a satisfying way. More local or at least regional chunks of open space are needed as Colorado adds nearly 3 million people during the next 30 years.
Land with good solar access but potential future uses could be used for a temporary solar farm using new technology by Powerfield. That’s the situation in a field next to the offices of Holy Cross Energy near Glenwood Springs, Colo.
On The Strip in Las Vegas in December, it was feathery dominatrixes, the newest come-hither that I had seen to this resort built on the intertwined conceits of illusion and allusion.
The ski town of Breckenridge and Peetz, a farming town along the Nebraska border, have relatively little in common other than they’re both in Colorado. But they’ll soon be tied at the electrical hip. A community solar garden near Peetz will be one among several that will allow Breckenridge to proclaim 100% emissions-free electricity.
Hoover Dam’s hydroelectric generation was very important when the dam was completed in 1936, helping Los Angeles became a great city. Can Hoover Dam and Lake Mead become a giant battery tries to become 100% renewable powered?
Almost an hour from an interstate highway, Meeker, Colo., has a high-speed charger that has ben getting used only once a month. And that was before the pandemic. Still, that’s OK with White River Electric, which sees electric vehicles being the wave of the future.
This may be the sweet spot of tragedy in my world, the calm before the pandemic storm. I’ve not lost loved ones or even liked ones. I may yet. But, for a time at least, the world has slowed down and quieted. Cars and trucks, always self-important, have diminished their intrusive presence. Can we hope for a new, more discerning normal after this is over?
Colorado has a goal of 900,000 sales of electric vehicles annually by 2030. That’s 42% of all sales. To put that statistic into perspective, EVs last year were 3.65% of all sales, a tripling in just two years. How will it get there?
Like the Continental Divide that splits Colorado waters into those flowing toward the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, the state’s electrical utilities have decided to go either east or west to take advantage of new or growing energy markets. But will this new seam in energy imbalance markets remain as utilities seek even greater benefits of a regional transmission organization?
The dispute that threatens to break apart Colorado’s second largest electrical supplier will likely be resolved in Colorado, not Washington D.C. Somehow, all sides in the case managed to proclaim success after reviewing the order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission posted on March 20.
Building electrification has started to take off in Colorado. A developer of the North Vista Highlands project at Pueblo has decided against installing natural gas lines into the 4,850-unit site. In Boulder and Boulder County, electric buildings are a crucial step toward climate action goals. But the jurisdictions emphasize comfort, not climate.
Bill Ritter helped steer Colorado’s energy transition when governor from 2006 to 2010 and now does so at the at the Center for the New Energy Economy. Even so, he said he has been shocked at how quickly the pivot has occurred.
