Big Pivots reports that Colorado has established itself as a national leader in the energy transition, but emphasizes the need for continued efforts to sustain its momentum. The article quotes United's Leah Rubin Shen, who highlights the state's leadership in distribution system planning.
In Colorado we like to believe that we are at the front of the class in this big pivot of energy. Are we?
I already had been wondering how to understand Colorado’s place in the energy transition in a national or even international context. This pivot in Colorado is huge. But are we exceptional?
Bill Ritter: Colorado is going fast, but it must go even faster
Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter spoke first, and in concert with Toor, made the case that Colorado should be seen as exceptional in this energy transition.
Colorado’s easiest story starts in 2004, when Ritter was still the Denver district attorney with an inkling that he wanted to become governor, which he did for four years beginning in 2007.
State legislators had repeatedly rejected efforts to enact a renewable portfolio standard. Frustrated boosters gathered enough signatures to get a ballot measure asking voters to require large utilities to achieve 10% of their generation from renewables by 2014. With large margins in favor in metropolitan Denver (and similarly wide margins in opposition in rural Colorado), Amendment 37 passed by a margin of 53.6% to 46.4%.
Fast and faster — but careful, too?
Ritter made those remarks in August. The November federal elections suggest sluggishness during the next four years in the energy transition. Colorado has great momentum irrespective of what happens in Washington.
That’s true to a somewhat lesser extent for the emissions reduction work across the country and world. That forward movement will continue. For all his bluster in 2016, Trump did not bring back coal jobs during his four years as president.
But the election can’t help. And the nominee of President-elect Donald Trump for secretary of the Department of Energy is an oil and gas guy. Chris Wright, the nominee, grew up in Colorado and made his fortune here, most recently as a founder of Liberty Energy, which provides hydro-fracturing and other oil and gas field services in Colorado and many other places around the country and globe. Wright doesn’t deny that greenhouse gases will warm the climate but downplays the risks and emphasizes the costs of the energy transition. The energy transition does not yet exist, he argued in a Heritage Foundation forum in 2023.
How exceptional is Colorado in this big pivot underway?
Colorado also has strong wind (fifth in nation during August) and good solar, too, to complement older hydroelectric product. And since 2018 in particular, we’ve had progressive leadership.
Leah Rubin Shen, a manager director for Advanced Energy United who keeps tabs on the 16 western states, ranked Colorado in the company of California and Washington and possibly Oregon. She spoke about the “creativity and ambition that we’ve seen in policies that the state has passed particularly in the last two years” in which she has been following Colorado.
Of particular note was SB24-218, the distribution planning reform authored by that brain trust of Sen. Steve Fenberg and Sen. Chris Hansen. It has been described by many in the energy sector to be the singularly most impressive law passed in the last legislative session.
“Not all states even have a distribution system planning, but Colorado already had one and then they improved it to make sure that everybody is thinking about what are the grid needs going to be in the future, especially as we electrify vehicle and buildings,” said Rubin Shen.
In this work on distributed energy resources, Colorado may be surpassing California. And in California, affordability of electricity has become an issue.
In late November, I interviewed Sen. Chris Hansen. As a state representative and then state senator from 2017 through 2024, he was a sponsor of 41 energy bills that were passed and became law during his legislative career. We had been talking about one of them, which created the Colorado Energy Transmission Authority.
“Colorado is a danged good place to be whether you are participating in the energy transition or chronicling it. But as for being a shiny beacon on the hill – perhaps, although others may see us less-than-shiny and having some company on that hill.”
Hansen resisted proclaiming Colorado as the nation’s leader. "Top five? Absolutely,” he replied.
“I would list Oregon, Washington, and California. Illinois has done some great work. I think Massachusetts and New York have some really interesting pieces that we’ve looked at,” he explained.
“I think we’ve brought some very innovative ideas to this party, this 50-state experiment in democracy and this republic that we have, as Ben Franklin said, if we can keep it and you know, I think we have been national leaders, and in some cases, global leaders in energy and environmental policy. And you know, I am really proud of being a part of that.”
Hansen tends to agree with Will Toor that Colorado’s work can become a model for other states, including Kansas, where he grew up. He mentioned his legislation in 2021 that created the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority. “I’m aware of three different states that are looking at doing a transmission authority in 2025. What better tribute than or what better flattery than being copied? That gives me deep satisfaction.”
Beauty contests that some of us grew up with always ended up with a queen. In fact, all the entrants were beautiful, but there had to be a queen.
In this matter of national leadership in the energy transition, it’s probably impossible to have a singular shining beacon atop the hill, to go back to the image presented by Bill Ritter in Aspen during August. But clearly, Colorado is among the several shining beacons.
Now, can it continue to shine as brightly?
Read the full article here.