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Tag: Grid Reliability

Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado For those of you who shared this magical experience, congratulations — you’ve now had a sneak preview of Colorado’s 100% renewable energy lifestyle. No waiting. No reservation required. For us fortunate 110,000, the reality of “unreliable energy” arrived quickly: The house goes dark; people get cold; refrigerated food and medicines quietly die; folks on home oxygen machines fumble around in the dark for backup tanks; no cooked meals; garage doors refuse to open; Teslas sit silently, judging their owners, and worst of all — no electronic entertainment. Nirvana. Absolute green, renewable Nirvana. There’s a certain poetry in chasing a wind-powered energy future only to be plunged into darkness by a little wind. It’s l...
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What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Coloradans are being asked to prepare for the chance of a planned outage on Dec. 17. The company’s public alerts tell people to watch the map. The filings tell a fuller story about thresholds, timelines and who is supposed to be in the loop when a shutoff is on the table. That framework was not created overnight. It was built through years of filings with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and formally approved in 2025. As of Dec. 16, the documents already on record allow for a clearer picture of what Xcel committed to regulators and what customers were actually told as the wind event approached. Dec. 17 was not an improvisation Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are not ad hoc emergency decisions. They are a s...
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Study Shows Electricity Costs Rising Fastest in States Pushing Green Mandates
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Just The News, Approved, National

Study Shows Electricity Costs Rising Fastest in States Pushing Green Mandates

By Kevin Killough | Just The News As Trump kicks off his affordability tour, new analyses show that states with renewable energy mandates have higher electricity rates than states without. President Donald Trump kicked off an affordability tour in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, and among the concerns he’s discussing at the events is the cost of energy.  It’s a big concern for Americans. A recent poll conducted by Ipsos, a marketing research and consulting firm, found that 73% of U.S. residents were concerned about increases in their electricity and gas bills this year.  A new analysis by Always On Energy Research and the Institute for Energy Research shows that residents of blue states see higher electricit...
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Regulators Keep Pueblo Comanche Coal Unit Running While Xcel Repairs Newer Plant
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Regulators Keep Pueblo Comanche Coal Unit Running While Xcel Repairs Newer Plant

By Alexander Edwards | The Denver Gazette The Comanche Power Plant in Pueblo will continue to operate a coal-powered electrical generating unit that was slated for retirement this month for one more year. The move comes after Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility company, petitioned in November to keep one generator operating after an outage at the coal-fired power plant. Gov. Jared Polis backed the petition. On Wednesday, the Public Utilities Commission approved a variance submitted by the utility. This allows Comanche 2, which was slated to be retired on Dec. 31, to continue operating as Xcel fixes the Comanche 3. “The Commission found that the outage at Comanche 3 was the sole justification for the extension of Comanche 2,” a fact sheet released by th...
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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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Xcel Seeks One-Year Extension to Keep Comanche Coal Unit Running as Grid Pressures Rise
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Xcel Seeks One-Year Extension to Keep Comanche Coal Unit Running as Grid Pressures Rise

By Scott Weiser | Colorado Politics Colorado’s largest utility company has petitioned energy regulators to push back the retirement of a coal-fired, electrical generating unit located in the Southern part of the state from December 2025 to the end of 2026. The Polis administration is backing the petition. Comanche Unit 2 is one of three coal-fired units at the Pueblo-based Comanche Generating Station. In its petition, Xcel Energy cites as reason an extended outage at the adjacent Unit 3, surging peak demand and supply chain hurdles. The petition underscores admissions from both Xcel and state officials about a potential generating resource shortfall exacerbated by a failure at the Comanche Unit 3, taking it off-line for the next 11 months, and by delays in bringing new “rene...
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Critics Warn of Blackouts and Rising Costs as Polis Accelerates Green Agenda
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State, Approved, completecolorado.com

Critics Warn of Blackouts and Rising Costs as Polis Accelerates Green Agenda

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — Information obtained by Complete Colorado shows that Gov. Jared Polis continues to double down on a 100 percent renewable energy plan for the state by 2040, despite late last year admitting his current plan is already on a dangerous course for energy ratepayers. In a letter obtained by Complete Colorado in October 2024, Governor Polis admitted he’s concerned Colorado is on track for the same large rate increases that are happening wherever “beneficial electrification” is tried, if the transition is not “carefully managed.” Yet, on July 16, the governor’s Clean Energy Office (CEO) held a Zoom meeting with as many 100 “stakeholders” to discuss further legislation in the coming year to push Colorado towards full decarbonization of the stat...
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James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com As Craig faces a coal plant shutdown, rural Colorado communities are being gutted in the name of environmental virtue-signaling. Jobs, power, and people are being discarded—and the so-called “just transition” is anything but. Rural Colorado towns like Craig are being sacrificed on the altar of metro-area environmental guilt—and no amount of “just transition” branding is going to save them. In a July 19, 2025, piece for The Denver Gazette, reporter Scott Weiser rather artfully dives into the coming shutdown of Tri-State’s Craig Station—one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the state—and the ripple effect it’s having on energy, jobs, and entire communities. It’s a wonderfully written story, but the outcome sucks. Mean...
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EPA reasserts control over Colorado’s coal phaseout amid grid concerns
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

EPA reasserts control over Colorado’s coal phaseout amid grid concerns

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun Colorado Springs Utilities is already considering delays to a closure scheduled for 2029, while governor says state is moving beyond coal Trump administration rollbacks of key state anti-pollution policies continued this week, with the EPA telling Colorado it can’t set deadlines for coal power plant closures under Clean Air Act rules. Colorado Springs Utilities is already using the ruling to consider extending its Nixon 1 unit in Fountain past a planned December 2029 closure, and environmental groups decried the EPA ruling as a “shocking” warning of looming assaults on anti-pollution laws. “There’s every reason to be concerned that this proposal could be the opening salvo of a broader attack on Colorado’s efforts to move away from costly and dirt...
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