Critics of large, utility-scale solar power plants like the one that recently landed a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee in southern Colorado say the feds need to better vet energy technology before putting so many taxpayer dollars on the line.
The state’s second largest power provider – Tri-State Generation and Transmission – has an all-of-the-above approach to energy resources, but that doesn’t mean its interest in a coal plant expansion in Kansas is meant to transform the Westminster-based company into a larger regional power wholesaler.
Conservation groups deeply involved in the resource acquisition planning process for Westminster-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission say they’re very concerned the state’s second largest power supplier behind only Xcel Energy is planning to build an 895-megawatt conventional, coal-fired power plant just across the state line in Holcomb, Kan.
An administrative law judge’s decree that Xcel Energy must “put its money where its mouth is” has cast an ominous cloud over a 140-mile power line proposed in Colorado’s sun-drenched San Luis Valley. Conservationists and the state’s largest utility argue the line is desperately needed in order to bolster Colorado’s renewable energy portfolio, but an evironmentally-minded billionaire landowner says there are viable alternatives that won’t have nearly the impact on his sprawling Trinchera Ranch.
The problem with massive, utility-scale solar and wind power plants, according to both critics and proponents, is the best places for collecting rays and electricity-generating gusts are often far from Colorado’s major population centers.
The San Luis Valley, for…
Westminster-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the state’s second largest power provider behind Xcel Energy, reached a deal with environmentalists Wednesday that prompted the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to close its case investigating stepped-up state oversight of the member-owned utility.…
A $3 million methane-to-electricity project at the Larimer County Landfill will use decomposing trash to provide enough power for about 900 homes and offset the annual carbon emissions of about 7,500 cars, according to the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO).…
Colorado ranks a surprising fourth on the list of states hosting wet coal-ash dumping ponds. An Environmental Protection Agency list obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by environmental groups lists 40 ponds in Colorado. The Agency…
Green energy advocates called Monday’s announcement of a major new wind farm on Colorado’s Eastern Plains by Tri-State Generation and Transmission a great first step down the renewable road Xcel Energy first paved more than a decade ago.
The director of sustainability for one of the state’s largest ski companies says there is a quiet revolution going at the state’s rural electric co-ops, where previously ignored and under-publicized board elections are seeing some real upheaval.
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