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Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission is evaluating Tri-State’s plan for clean energy expansion and decarbonization – and the possibility it could impede major leaps forward in clean energy by adding a new fossil gas-burning plant.

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COLORADO’S SECOND-LARGEST POWER PROVIDER LEVERAGES NEW ERA FUNDING INTO $2.5 BILLION TO ACCELERATE ITS TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY

In September, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service announced that Tri-State Generation and Transmission was selected to receive $679 million in federal support for boosting its clean energy capacity and lowering bills for its members in rural communities across Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska. Tri-State CEO Duane Highley called the package of grants and low-interest loans – part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $9.7 billion New ERA (Empowering Rural America) program – an “enormously beautiful” opportunity to expand on its wind, solar, efficiency and grid modernization efforts.

Reaction from those served by Tri-State member cooperatives was equally enthusiastic.

Building on the New ERA windfall, Tri-State was then able to leverage the award into a total of $2.5 billion in funding that will allow Colorado’s second biggest power provider to meet and surpass state decarbonization goals, all while lowering costs for customers of its 40 member electric cooperatives. In announcing the expanded financing, CEO Highley said it was a “momentous day for Tri-State, for our members, and for the future of rural electric cooperatives.” He emphasized how accelerating the transition to clean energy ‘ensures reliability, in an affordable manner, that finally allows rural America to own and directly see the benefits.”

Tri-State was not the only beneficiary in Colorado of the RUS’s $9.7 billion in federal New ERA program funding. Tri-State member co-ops Poudre Valley REA, San Miguel Power and San Luis Valley REC also were awarded funding totaling an additional $56 million to their clean energy holdings. On top of that, former Tri-State members United Power, Mountain Parks Electric and Kit Carson Electric received a whopping $593 million combined.

Other rural electric cooperatives either serving Colorado or connected to Tri-State’s system also received significant New ERA funding, bringing the total investment in accelerating the switch to clean energy to $4.2 billion.

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RESOURCE PLANNING - TRI-STATE’S NEXT BIG LEAP IN THE CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION … COULD ALSO BE A STEP BACKWARD

In June 2024, Tri-State signed a settlement agreement with more than a dozen groups intervening in its electric resource plan (ERP) at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Tri-State’s 2023 ERP proposes an ambitious path for transitioning to clean energy that includes: adding 1,250 megawatts of new renewables and battery storage over the next six years; early closure of its coal-fired units in Craig at the end of 2027 and in Springerville, Ariz. In 2031; expanded energy efficiency investments; and up to $70 million in assistance for the city of Craig and Moffat County to help cushion the blow of lost tax revenue.

As historic as Tri-State's preferred portfolio is, however, it also includes a potential poison pill; Tri-State is considering a new 290 megawatts of new gas-fired power plant. In response to a request for proposals issued in September, Tri-State received project proposals from four gas plant developers and is evaluating the feasibility of adding them to its system. Tri-State is scheduled to provide an update on this final selection in a report due to be filed with the PUC in mid-April.

Tri-State has made noteworthy gains over the past five years in transforming its operations from the old fossil-fuel way of generating electricity into the modern, more affordable era of clean energy. The New ERA funding it has received paves the way for this transition to continue moving forward, achieving decarbonization goals while also lowering bills for customers and energizing economic development in the rural communities Tri-State serves.

Gas is an outdated fuel that will drag Tri-State backward. With the continued downward trajectory of the cost of wind and solar, any new gas plant could quickly become economically obsolete, but if Tri-State is allowed to proceed with acquiring new gas, its members could be left paying hundreds of millions of dollars for a 290-megawatt idled dinosaur.

Tri-State and the PUC need to hear that gas cannot be part of the final approved resource plan.

Click here for more information on how you let them know, No New Gas!