Colorado’s Green Hydrogen Boondoggle
In 2024, the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) commissioned a report from Ascend Analytics, entitled Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in Colorado’s Electric Sector by 2040, to evaluate the potential to achieve near-zero and zero greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by 2040. The study examined a business-as-usual—or Economic Deployment—scenario and six other scenarios that achieve […]
Colorado PUC Trims Xcel’s Unprecedented Renewables Plan
Ratepayer interests received a small win from Colorado regulators overseeing Xcel Energy’s latest resource plan. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) pared back Xcel’s $15 billion request to build wind, solar, batteries, and new transmission lines by around $3 billion last week. The PUC’s trimming of Xcel’s request came as it approved an alternative resource […]
Colorado’s Energy Future: The High Cost of 100 Percent Electric Vehicles
In August 2022, California became the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles, setting a deadline of 2035 to phase them out completely. Just one week later, the state was forced to call on its residents to avoid charging their electric vehicles because the state’s grid was at imminent […]
Colorado’s Energy Future: The High Cost of 100 Percent Electric Home Heating
What began as a first-of-its-kind ban on new natural gas hookups in 2019 in Berkeley, California, has turned into a nationwide movement. To date, more than 100 cities plus the state of New York have since passed gas bans of their own to push their citizens toward electrification. It has even begun to spread in […]
Poll: Majority of Colorado Likely Voters Favor Nuclear Energy
Colorado voters are broadly in favor of the country’s largest source of clean energy, according to a newly released Independence Institute/Cygnal poll. Likely general election voters across Colorado favor nuclear energy more than 2:1 (53% support, 25% oppose). 54% said they favor including nuclear power in Colorado’s clean energy mix by 2040, with support crossing […]
Colorado’s Energy Future: The High Cost of 100% Renewable Electricity by 2040
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D.) campaigned for his first term in office on a platform of transitioning the state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2040. In his first year in office, Polis unveiled an official government “roadmap” to do just that. Since then, he has signed into law no fewer than 55 climate bills […]
Dr. Polis Prescribes Even Higher Utility Bills
Primum non nocere. Translation: first, do no harm. It’s a phrase that has been part of the medical ethics lexicon since the 17th century. Coloradans would have been wise to apply it to energy policy some two decades ago, when the eco-left began politicizing energy production, electricity, and our grid. Flanked by low-income customers, Governor […]
Fossil Fuels Bail Out Colorado’s Grid Yet Again
Coloradans might want to begin brushing up on their German. At least enough to be familiar with the word Dunkelflaute, which roughly translates to “dark doldrums.” The term describes a weather pattern of low wind and limited sunlight that makes generating electricity from renewables nearly impossible. The event is relatively common in northern and western Europe during […]
Governor Polis Again Downplays Nuclear Energy…But with a Catch
Colorado’s Governor may not be a huge proponent of nuclear energy, but he at least isn’t ruling it out either. Fresh off his resounding reelection victory earlier this month, Governor Jared Polis took to the national stage with an appearance on the popular HBO political talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” last week. During […]
Virginia Governor Offers Leadership on Nuclear Energy Innovation, A Balanced Approach to Decarbonization
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R.) released his 2022 energy plan early last week, and it offers a refreshing vision of sobriety on energy policy. The plan, designed to reevaluate that of his Democratic predecessor released in 2020, calls for an “all of the above” energy strategy using a variety of generation sources, from hydrogen to […]
Gone with the Wind: Weather Dependent Energy Puts Residents at Risk
The power grid in Texas is a little bit under the weather. A major heat wave has arrived just as the wind stopped blowing, creating a perfect storm for residents looking for relief from the blistering summer sun in the country’s second-largest state. As Bloomberg reports: Wind power — a key source of electricity in […]
The Cost & Impact of a 100 Percent Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard for the State of Colorado
As the 2018 Colorado governor’s race intensifies, two Democrat candidates have proposed extending Colorado’s existing Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) from 30 percent by 2020 to 100 percent by 2040. The purpose of this study is to highlight some of the main costs and impacts associated with a hypothetical 100 percent RPS in Colorado. Because few details have been released regarding the design of such a policy, this study evaluated the costs associated with two very different 100 percent RPS scenarios.
