A Historic New Chapter for Rural Colorado Energy - Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action

In 2019, Western Colorado Alliance members passed state legislation that, for the first time ever, required Tri-State Generation & Transmission to answer to the people of Colorado. Tri-State is rural Colorado’s major energy supplier and has long held the ignoble distinction of being one of the costliest and dirtiest suppliers in the nation.

This Tuesday, all the past hard work of Alliance members came home with Tri-State’s filing of its Electric Resource Plan with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. This plan envisions a sweeping transformation of Tri-State’s electricity supply and large job-creating new investments in clean energy generation on the Western Slope over the next decade. Though the unredacted portions of the plan raise serious questions about future coal and gas use for future Western Colorado Alliance organizing, it’s worth taking this moment to celebrate positive steps in the plan that would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago.

Historic steps

950MW of solar in Western Colorado to be added through 2030.
200MW of battery storage in Western Colorado to be added in 2029.
No new gas acquisitions until 2030, though a potential new 300MW Western Colorado gas acquisition looms large then.
A newly announced retirement for large out-of-state coal at Tri-State’s Wyoming Laramie River Station in 2033.

Room to #TriHarder?

WCA staff will continue analyzing this complex proposal over the coming days, but the following questions are known to us now:

How will new Western Colorado renewable energy locations be determined? Will local communities or out-of-state contractors reap the jobs and investment benefits?
Will communities and member co-ops gain greater contract freedom or larger community solar installation size caps under this plan, or be able to operate their own cost-saving battery storage?
Rates seem to be almost universally redacted from the public-facing versions of this plan. Will Tri-State’s transition to cheaper, cleaner new technologies create savings for rate-payers or will the windfalls go to paying off past coal debts and investors?

Your Chance is Coming Soon

With this Phase I of the Electric Resource Plan filed, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will soon open up a public comment period for ideas from the public. Stay tuned with our Alliance for news and resources on how you — and your community — can have its say and shape the future of Colorado energy.

About the author

Joel Dyar

Joel Dyar joined our Alliance as organizer for clean and renewable energy in 2019. As a 15-year veteran of community organizing in Colorado and six countries, Joel has worked to help social movements and everyday residents discover their power and make their voices heard on a broad spectrum of sustainability, social, and legislative issues. Joel brings a Masters of Community Development and graduate studies in renewable energy and green business to his work on behalf of our energy future.