13 Days Left to Weigh in on Colorado’s Energy Future

Tri-State Generation and Transmission supplies power to many rural electric associations in Colorado but ranks as the 6th dirtiest utility in the country, forcing dirty coal-fired power onto our communities. Now, things are changing — thanks in big part to historic state energy legislation passed with WCA support this year.  

For the first time ever, Tri-State is now required to work with state regulators to create an Energy Resource Plan (ERP) that includes citizen input on what Tri-State’s priorities should be.  

Since 2017, new wind and solar have been cheaper than coal power in Colorado. When will Tri-State wake up? 

Tri-State is reliant on a fleet of aging large coal-fired plants. When renewables started beating coal on price in Colorado, Tri-State’s management dug in their heels, even joining federal lobbying efforts to fight this inevitable market shift. As a result, they’ve fallen years behind more proactive utilities like Xcel and are now the most expensive major utility in Colorado. 

Click here to submit a short comment urging regulators to press Tri-State for more renewables. 

The nation is moving towards a more decentralized and democratic electricity paradigm. When will Tri-State contracts catch up?

Tri-State has famously imposed restrictive contracts on rural communities, requiring that local REAs purchase 95% of their total load from Tri-State. The remaining 5% can be developed locally, including from local renewables, but Tri-State retains control of the pricing of such projects — a power it has used to sabotage local renewables in the past.  

Click here to tell regulators that we want greater local freedom to decide where our energy comes from. 

What else is happening in the energy landscape? 

Holy Cross Energy, serving the Roaring Fork and I-70 corridor, signals it’s likely to reach its 70% decarbonization goals a decade ahead of schedule.

A bipartisan coalition in the US Senate is moving forward with legislation that will speed the commercialization of grid-scale battery storage.

Billions of investment dollars are now pouring into new battery technologies. 

Western Colorado Alliance in Action

In September, Western Colorado Alliance joined with E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs and the Mesa County Cleantech Business Coalition to host the 2019 Mesa County Clean Jobs Summit. Our Alliance is excited to have welcomed eight state legislators and two Grand Junction City Council members to the event. E2 released the 2019 Clean Jobs Colorado report, detailing a growing 60,000 clean energy jobs across the state and the revelation that clean energy jobs also now employ 26,000 more workers than the state’s entire fossil fuel industry. State Rep. Chris Hansen, Chair of the Energy Legislation Review Interim Study Committee and author of major 2019 legislation, joined the event as a panelist alongside moderator Jim Spehar and Shawn Rash, president of Ally Energy and David Dragoo, president of Mayfly Outdoors.  You can read the report here.