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GOP Divided As Wyoming Weighs Coal Future And Data Center Growth
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Cowboy State Daily, Approved, National

GOP Divided As Wyoming Weighs Coal Future And Data Center Growth

By: Clair McFarland | Cowboy State Daily Wyoming’s coal sector is startled at Republican candidates who oppose data centers. Industry leaders say the revival of coal is driven by demand for energy from data centers. "It's frustrating," said Travis Deti, of the Wyoming Mining Association. Wyoming’s coal sector is startled at Republican political candidates who oppose the data center buildout. Data centers are large warehouses full of servers that power parts of the internet and, increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI). Wyoming has between 20 and 30 operational data centers. President Donald Trump has touted the sector’s expansion as part of a coal industry revival, and part of beating China in a technology advancement race. Many Wyoming Republica...
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Colorado needs a smarter answer on data centers than yes or no
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado needs a smarter answer on data centers than yes or no

By Scott James | Commentary, Scott's Sheet Colorado can welcome data centers, but only with honest math on water, power, rates, and who pays when the press release meets the utility bill. Most normal people do not wake up worried about data centers. They wake up worried about the mortgage, the water bill, the power bill, the kids, the roads, and whether the internet will freeze right as the Broncos line up on fourth and short. Then somebody says “data center,” and the room divides almost immediately. One side acts like every giant project is economic manna from heaven. The other side acts like a server farm is Mordor with better landscaping. Somewhere between NIMBY and corporate shill, there is a principled yes. Colorado ought to find it. Big Pivots argues that...
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Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado I’ve lived in Colorado since 1970. And you know what Colorado had back in 1970? High winds blowing down the Front Range. I moved to Boulder in 1984 and have been there ever since. And you know what Boulder has had all that time? A freakin’ lot of high winds. I remember as a college kid walking around the CU campus after windstorms, stepping around uprooted trees and massive broken branches that made the sidewalks impassable. I’ve seen rooftop shingles go flying off Boulder buildings, signs ripped down, and semi-trucks overturned. All of which is to say that for the last 55 years I have personally witnessed a crap-ton of high winds in our mountain state. But only in the last few months have I witnessed our ...
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Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Xcel shut off power Saturday afternoon in parts of Boulder and Jefferson counties—roughly 18,000 customers in all. The wind was up, fire danger was high, and outages weren’t limited to the shutoff areas—some hit in the foothills, others farther into the mountains, where crews were still working Sunday. House Bill 26-1246 had come up earlier in the week during a committee hearing. Rep. Ken DeGraaf pointed to those kinds of events as a warning. “Public safety power shutoffs… have become increasingly normalized,” he told lawmakers. What followed wasn’t just a debate over one bill. It was a clash between two different ways of thinking about how Colorado should power its future. At its core, the disagreement comes down to this: should...
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Xcel Warns Grid May Need Coal Plants Longer Amid Delays In New Energy Projects
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Xcel Warns Grid May Need Coal Plants Longer Amid Delays In New Energy Projects

By: Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun The plants in Pueblo and Hayden were slated to phase out between 2025 and 2030. Now the company has proposed running all their units for four more years. Xcel Energy, facing what it says is a shortfall in electricity generating capacity for the next two years, is proposing to run its four coal-fired units until 2030. Comanche Unit 2, in Pueblo, was supposed to close at the end of 2025. One unit at the Hayden Station is to close in 2027 and the second unit is slated to shut in 2028. Comanche Unit 3 is set to close in 2030. Comanche 3 suffered turbine damage in August taking the unit offline. Xcel Energy initially said repairs would be completed in June, but in a March 2 report to state regulators the company said it h...
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Before Closing Pueblo’s Coal Unit Colorado Must Guarantee Reliable Power
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Before Closing Pueblo’s Coal Unit Colorado Must Guarantee Reliable Power

By The Gazette Editorial Board | The Denver Gazette To meet Colorado’s surging need for electricity, our state needs energy from a diverse array of dedicated sources. Unfortunately, with the pending closure of the two remaining, operational, coal-fired units at Xcel Energy’s Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, things are getting tricky. Comanche is the state’s largest power plant, with an original capacity of 1,410 megawatts. But its Unit 1 was shut down in 2022 as part of the statewide phaseout of coal-burning power plants. Unit 2 now is set to close at the end of this year, with Comanche Unit 3 scheduled for closure in 2030. It’s all part of Gov. Jared Polis’ green-energy agenda, which aims to move away from fossil fuels like coal in favor of renewable energy sources like wind a...
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