Colorado energy supplier changing its focus
– Edited by Stephen Heiser –
According to a report in the Herald, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which provides electricity to Southwest Colorado, has announced a major shift in the way it plans to meet customers' demands for electricity. In the near-term, the energy supplier plans to expand energy-efficiency programs, make investments in renewable energy and increase natural gas capacity, said Lee Boughey, a spokesman for Tri-State, during a phone interview Friday.
In the long-term, the company will consider building a new nuclear power plant in southeast Colorado, he said.
This is a marked difference from four years ago when the energy supplier announced plans to pursue three new coal-fired power plants, said Boughey. The change comes amid a changing regulatory climate.
There is a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to state and federal regulatory policies as they pertain to energy and the environment, Boughey said. Tri-State wanted to take time to understand the new direction and policies and evaluate the benefits and risks of new approaches, he added.
Tri-State is a wholesale power provider to 44 member rural electric distributors in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. One of its members is La Plata Electric Association, which distributes electricity to residents and businesses in Archuleta, San Juan and La Plata counties.
Each member has one representative on Tri-State's board of directors. During the last four years, board members' attitudes have changed about renewable energy, and Tri-State's management team has changed, said Greg Munro, chief executive officer of LPEA.
"They have come a long way in the last three or four years of looking at things differently," Munro said.
"It used to be, 'OK, the only thing we can do is build a coal-fired power plant,'" he said. "They're not looking at that any more."
Instead, Munro said, Tri-State is delving into energy efficiency and smart-grid technology, and working with the members on renewable-energy and energy-saving programs.