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Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 Longmont City Council voted 6–1 Tuesday night to ban hyperscale data centers, capping facilities at 5% of regional grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. LONGMONT, Colo. — Longmont is drawing a line against hyperscale data centers, passing an ordinance Tuesday night that sets limits on facility energy consumption to protect the city's power grid, water supply, and neighborhoods from impacts seen elsewhere across the country. In a 6-1 vote, Longmont City Council passed a city ordinance capping data center energy usage at either 5% of the region's grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. City staff said 100 megawatts is enough to power between 10,000 to 30,000 homes on a hot summer day. Longmont joins a growing ...
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Colorado Consumers Push Back Against Xcel Rate Hike Proposal
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CPR News, Approved, State

Colorado Consumers Push Back Against Xcel Rate Hike Proposal

By: Ishan Thakore | CPR News Xcel Energy’s proposed deal to raise average residential energy bills by nearly 6% is running into a wall of opposition from Colorado consumer and environmental groups.  The proposed residential rate increase would be among the largest ever in the state, according to the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate (UCA), which advocates for customers and is opposed to the deal. In November, the state’s largest utility petitioned state regulators at the Public Utilities Commission to let it increase how much it charges for electricity. Xcel hadn’t requested a major price hike to its customer base rates since 2022. Last year, the company said it needed to recoup around $356 million it spent to build new renewab...
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Northern Colorado Leaders Warn Power Shortage Could Slow Growth
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Northern Colorado Leaders Warn Power Shortage Could Slow Growth

By: Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado Rapid growth across parts of Northern Colorado is colliding with a growing challenge — being able to access enough electricity to support new homes and businesses. Local leaders in Greeley say demand for power has increased significantly in recent decades. This is as technology becomes more integrated into everyday life, and it creates pressure on an electric grid that is struggling to keep pace with population growth and development. "We are growing pretty rapidly," said Don Threewitt, interim community and economic developer for the city of Greeley. Threewitt said the state's electric demand has shifted dramatically in the last decade, as residents rely more heavily on technology. From smartphones and electric vehicles to incre...
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Colorado Regulators Override Local Denial To Advance Renewable Energy Grid
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Colorado Regulators Override Local Denial To Advance Renewable Energy Grid

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun The ruling was based on a statute used just 3 times in 21 years allowing regulators to override local land use decisions on electric and gas infrastructure projects. State utility regulators have overruled local land use decisions and cleared the way for Xcel Energy to build its $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission line through Elbert County. The line will bring Eastern Plains wind and solar to the Front Range. The Elbert County Commission voted in June 2025 to deny Xcel Energy two key permits responding to protests by landowners and ranchers and an unwillingness by the utility to reroute the path, which cut through the heart of the county. The county commission and many landowners sought to have the route moved fa...
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Colorado Faces Summer Power Crunch As Comanche Power Plant Repairs Are Delayed Again
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Faces Summer Power Crunch As Comanche Power Plant Repairs Are Delayed Again

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Xcel Energy has until April 15 to present a plan for dealing with the projected electricity shortfall during the hottest days of summer. elays in getting Xcel Energy’s damaged Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant back online may create a shortfall in electricity this summer, requiring customers to cut back on use during heat waves and other peak periods. Concerned about the potential gap between electricity generation and demand, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission this week ordered Xcel Energy to file a plan by April 15 to deal with the looming deficit. Xcel Energy had projected a manageable 77-megawatt deficit in capacity for this summer, but when Comanche 3’s return to operation was pushed from June to Augus...
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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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High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County

By: Tyler Melito | Denver7 Several projects in Boulder are underway to move power lines underground — a move residents Denver7 spoke with say they welcome. BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — High winds predicted for Thursday are prompting proactive measures by energy providers like Xcel. The company plans to implement an enhanced powerline safety setting — making lines more sensitive and automatically shut off power if something hits the line — on Thursday in several counties to allow power to remain in service with additional sensitivity protections in place. But Xcel and the City of Boulder are working on a long-term solution amid community pushback on public safety power shutoffs. Part of that includes continuing to bury power lines; 60% of the city's power lines...
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Green Energy Fell Short When Winter Storm Fern Tested the Grid
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Daily Wire, Approved, National

Green Energy Fell Short When Winter Storm Fern Tested the Grid

By Amanda Prestigiacomo | The Daily Wire The analysis backs up Trump's recent moves regarding wind energy. With America’s power grid stressed by a historic winter storm, expensive “green” energy sources like wind and solar proved unreliable. A new report on power use over the days of Winter Storm Fern, which brought both massive snow accumulation and damaging waves of ice, found that traditional power sources like natural gas, coal, and nuclear provided 80% of U.S. electricity during the storm’s most destructive days. Wind, by contrast, contributed single-digit percentages, and solar was largely unattainable during the coldest and darkest hours. Data from some 500,000 federal electricity records, analyzed by nonprofit Power the Future, show the ...
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Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Commissioner JJ Fletcher said he wasn’t looking to start a political fight when he published a recent op-ed questioning Colorado’s rapid move away from natural gas. What he wanted, Fletcher said, was to put a practical concern on the record—one he hears repeatedly from rural counties. Fletcher said the problem has become harder to ignore in recent weeks. With power shutoffs in December, higher utility bills and public anger spilling into regulatory hearings, he said counties are being asked to answer for decisions they didn’t make. In an interview with RMV, Fletcher said the message from state leaders has been consistent: counties are expected to deal with the impacts of electrification, even though they don’t contr...
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Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration’s energy agency has ordered one of three generating units at a Colorado power plant to remain available for operation amid an impending shutdown of the station and its supplying coal mines. The move is one of the latest attempts by the White House to revive coal production in the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s promise to “unleash” American energy. In Colorado, Democrats and their allies have prioritized moving away from fossil-fired energy in favor of solar and wind power in their campaign to get to net “zero” carbon emissions in a few decades, arguing it is good for people’s health and the environment. Republicans and others have argued that the transition is happening too quickly, with little rega...
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