After years of harsh critiques from environmental groups and departing co-op members over its slow pace of change, Tri-State Generation is now winning praise for plugging in and planning a host of solar and wind farms to replace dirty coal.

The Westminster-based utility serving a million consumers through co-ops in four Western states will link to hundreds of megawatts of new solar power by the end of 2025. Its newest five-year building plan was unopposed when filed with state regulators, and wins praise from environmentalists for a wide array of new wind farms and innovative battery storage solutions.

The big utility, meanwhile, is making it easier for disgruntled member co-ops to accelerate renewable projects they build for themselves outside the Tri-State grid, in one effort to head off more defections like those that turned United Power and Delta-Montrose Electric Association into independents.

Whether you already have solar panels or are considering an installation, home battery storage can help unlock several benefits, including continuous access to power during electrical outages and greater control over your ongoing energy expenses. As an evolving technology that has experienced steady cost reductions in the last few years, home batteries are quickly gaining popularity in the US and homeowners now have more products available to choose from than ever before. This Newsweek article highlights some of today’s top batteries and details precisely how to distinguish between your energy storage options in 2024.

Reducing demand for electricity has broad benefits, including less need to add new wires and grid equipment. The growth of customer-owned solar and batteries can help to reduce wear and tear on the grid and save ratepayers money. How much savings? A new paper from University of Texas at Austin researchers shows savings of about 40%. An observer may look at the possibility of 40% savings and ask why utilities and grid operators aren’t investing heavily in incentives to maximize the benefits. The disappointing answer is that the utility business model doesn’t deal well with tools that reduce demand, largely because utilities make money by selling electricity and building infrastructure. The FERC and regulators in some states have taken steps to encourage or require utilities and grid operators to work better with customer-owned resources.

Utilities are increasingly using batteries for grid stability and arbitrage, or moving electricity from periods of low prices to periods of high prices, according to a new survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA published an early release of data from its EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report, which includes new detailed information on battery storage applications, including information on use cases, generator configuration, and other details on the energy capacity of planned batteries. At the end of 2023, electric utilities in the U.S. reported operating 575 batteries with a collective capacity of 15,814 megawatts (MW). EIA expects U.S. battery capacity will more than triple, adding 35,953 MW by the end of 2028 based on plans reported to it by utilities. Utilities now report that arbitrage is the primary use case for 10,487 MW of battery capacity, making it the most reported primary use. In arbitrage, utilities charge batteries by buying electricity during low-cost periods and then sell that electricity when electricity prices increase.

Colorado-based Tri-State will soon serve half its customers’ electricity needs with renewable energy, thanks to new Inflation Reduction Act policies. It’s acquiring its first large-scale solar power plants as it prepares to shift away from its current dependence on coal power. The cooperative announced last week it will buy the forthcoming Axial Basin Solar, a 145-megawatt project in Moffat County, CO, and Dolores Canyon Solar, a 110-​megawatt project in Dolores County, CO. Both projects are still under construction, but they are slated to deliver power by late next year. Tri-State also signed three new power purchase agreements from solar plants that will come online by the end of this year. Tri-State kicked off a clean energy planning effort in 2019, and in late 2020 promised to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and shut down several coal plants. The latest solar investments represent strides toward that promise.

Delta-Montrose Electric Association, serving 30,000 members on the Western Slope, plans a big solar array and battery storage with a new $72 million federal loan, continuing the co-op’s transition to renewable energy. Nearly $30 million of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture loan is forgivable, effectively a grant, and will largely fund the co-op’s construction of a 20MW solar array and paired 80 megawatt hours of battery storage. The battery backup, increasingly paired with utilities’ construction of wind and solar farms, will make the new array a reliable source for about 7,000 homes. Colorado’s co-ops are also touting their renewable energy construction as the best way to keep energy affordable for strapped customers.

New federal efficiency standards, local air quality regulations, and government incentives are spurring a shift toward the up-and-coming clean energy tech. Planning on replacing your water heater in the next few years? You could find yourself in the midst of an appliance revolution: Heat pumps are set to soar in the world of water heating. Click on the link below to find out why.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is expected on Monday to issue a final rule to address the crunch in U.S. electricity transmission as the grid struggles to connect enormous amounts of clean power while demand surges. The long-awaited rule will attempt to ensure that a dozen fragmented U.S. regions adopt long-term plans to bring more transmission online. It will seek to coordinate state and local regulations and utility plans on ways to split costs among states for the build-out. The queue of power generation projects awaiting a connection to the electric grid is currently around 2,600 gigawatts, twice the amount of generation of the current U.S. power plant fleet. Meanwhile, power demand is surging.

Colorado’s second largest electrical provider, Tri-State, has a new energy efficiency program. That’s good, but it needs to reinvent itself even more and it is working on it. Tri-State is rapidly building its renewable generation portfolio as it prepares to close the three coal-burning units in Craig between 2025 and 2030. By decade’s end, it expects to be at 70% renewables across its four-state service territory. To remain relevant, Tri-State needs to reinvent itself even more. This is a more difficult task than reconfiguring Xcel Energy or other urban utilities. The economic geography of rural areas is more difficult than that of towns, cities or metropolitan areas.

Battery energy storage technology has emerged as a critical component for a cleaner and more sustainable energy future. By storing electrical energy, particularly from renewable sources, these systems enable a more efficient, reliable, and sustainable electricity grid. They are developed to respond quickly to changes in grid demand and supply. Integrating state-of-the-art battery energy storage technology into the grid means not only ensuring a reliable energy supply but also driving progress toward a more sustainable and environmentally friendly energy system. Sangre de Cristo should examine adding battery storage to the Trout Creek Solar farm. That project was originally designed to add storage. It would help reduce the high peak demand costs that we pay to Tri-State every month and provide backup power for the local grid during an outage.

The U.S. Dept of Energy found in a report last year that large-scale deployment of virtual power plants (VPPs) “could help address demand increases and rising peaks at lower cost than conventional resources, reducing the energy costs for Americans.” They’re not a new concept, the DOE noted, adding that most existing VPPs are so-called demand response programs. Grid operators, utilities, state regulators and lawmakers across the U.S. are increasingly exploring the possibilities of VPPs. They are seen as a cost-effective way to aid an electric grid that in many parts of the country is increasingly embattled by power plant retirements as well as difficulties building new, cleaner generation and the transmission lines they need — all at a time when huge projected electric demand increases loom.

Educating homeowners and contractors is a key to success for beneficial electrification efforts, which are backed by billions of dollars in spending from federal infrastructure, stimulus and clean energy laws promoted by the Biden administration through landmark legislation. Now there is a new online tool that has just gone live, developed by Google fellows and the nonprofit Rewiring America, that put all of Colorado’s available federal, state, local and Xcel incentives into one easy search. Colorado is the second state site to be launched by Google and Rewiring America, with another 11 states coming online soon. Read about it here at The Colorado Sun and give the interactive tool a try.

Sedalia’s CORE and Brighton’s United Power say they have enough market power to strike out on their own. The first big step comes May 1st, when United Power, which serves about 300,000 people in an area from Commerce City through Adams and Weld counties, leaves the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. “This is about local control and financial independence,” said Mark Gabriel, United Power’s CEO. CORE, serving more than 375,000 residents in parts of 11 counties from west of Colorado Springs to east of Denver, is set to finish its contract with Xcel Energy at the end of 2025. The departures trim Tri-State to 38 members and cut the association’s revenues by more than 25%.

Holy Cross Energy leaped into the upper echelons of green co-ops in December, when wind and solar installations switched on that put it on track for 90%-plus renewable power by late in 2025. Now the 45,000-member utility must work with customers on the demand side, to stretch supplies when wind and sun are scarce and to distribute power when it’s available to as many batteries as possible. Customers may soon start getting texts with a lot more retail hustle than they’re used to from their electric utility: “Looks like a great day for wind. We’ll be making some power. Plug your car in from 10 to 2 today and get a big discount.” A little marketing razzle-dazzle and communication are vital steps to managing supply and demand.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports today that 62.8 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity is coming online in 2024 – here’s how it breaks down. The EIA expects a record addition of utility-scale solar in 2024 if the scheduled 36.4 GW come online. That would nearly double 2023’s 18.4 GW increase, already a record setter for annual US utility-scale solar installation. Supply chain challenges and trade restrictions are easing, so solar continues – and will continue – to outpace capacity additions from other sources. EIA expects battery storage capacity to nearly double in 2024 – another record-setting year. Developers are expected to add 14.3 GW of battery storage in 2024 to the existing 15.5 GW.

Colorado receives $17.2 million in federal funds that will be used for microgrids and other strategies to ensure the lights stay on. Allen Best of Big Pivots explains how microgrids provide the ability to become ultra-local in our electricity, both supplies and demands, when circumstances require. They can keep the lights on and facilities operating. Colorado has a program called Microgrids for Community Resilience, one of the few such programs in the United States. Where is SDCEA on applying for this funding opportunity?

The Clean Jobs Colorado report, released annually by clean energy business group E2, analyzed 2022 federal employment data and counted nearly 64,000 Coloradans employed across a range of categories including energy efficiency, renewable electricity generation and clean vehicles. That’s more than double the roughly 30,000 Coloradans directly employed by coal, oil and natural gas, according to E2’s analysis. Clean energy employers in Colorado added 2,700 jobs last year, and employment has grown about 11% faster within the industry than in the state’s economy as a whole since 2020.

Last year, the Colorado Legislature passed House Bill 22-1013 which created the Microgrids for Community Resilience Act and grant program. The grants are intended to create alternative microgrids in rural communities “that are at significant risk of severe weather or natural disaster events,” the act states, and can be anchored by a school, hospital, law enforcement agency or other community facility. The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office facility in Ilium recently underwent a renovation that increased its energy efficiency with solar panels. Colorado residents and members of the San Miguel Power Association are being encouraged to look for opportunities to plan for energy efficiency and resiliency as new grant funding and legislative action continues shaping the future of renewable energy in the region.

It’s no secret that renewable energy is the key to meeting climate change targets. The U. S. is committed to achieving 80% renewable energy generation by 2030, 100% zero-carbon energy by 2035, and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. But while developer interest is high and the cost of renewables is lower than ever—rapidly outperforming fossil fuels—ongoing interconnection delays are slowing the clean energy transition. Microgrids, community solar and rural electric cooperatives may provide an answer to this problem.

Since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed one year ago, U.S. solar and storage companies have announced over $100 billion in private sector investments, according to new analysis by the Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar and storage manufacturing is now surging in the U.S., as 51 solar manufacturing facilities have been announced or expanded in the last year. By 2026, the U.S. is projected to have over 17 times its current manufacturing capacity across modules, cells, wafers, ingots and inverters when these announced factories are in operation, which is enough to supply a majority of solar projects expected to be built in the U.S.

The fifth-leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado is its more than 2.5 million residential and commercial buildings. Colorado is promoting all-electric buildings to help the state achieve its emissions reduction targets of 26% by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 100% by 2050 from 2005 levels. All-electric buildings can also reduce utility costs for residents and business owners.

If you reside in the Centennial State, there’s a good chance you’ve considered “going solar,” or investing in solar panels for your home. That’s because Colorado is famous for its sunshine. In fact, the state gets 300 days of sunshine every year, making it the perfect place for those who want to live off the grid—either partially or fully—and run their home on solar energy. If you’ve ever wondered about solar panel pricing and incentives in Colorado, you’ve come to the right place. This Forbes article discuss that and more, so you’ll be well-equipped to make the best decision for your home.

Mike Kruger with COSSA discusses Holy Cross Energy’s new rate structure and why it should be reconsidered. HCE is unilaterally reinterpreting established net metering law, negatively impacting residents, businesses, and the communities it serves in the process. As Colorado’s legislature has made clear, Colorado’s net metering policy should be uniform, decided at the state level, and should not be restructured utility-by-utility.

One in five Americans now lives in an area that's trying to move buildings off fossil fuels. The Inflation Reduction Act, which contains billions of dollars in tax credits and rebates to help people swap gas heaters, dryers, and stoves for electric appliances, is likely to accelerate the trend.