Colorado co-op United Power is free to pursue renewables after exiting Tri-State

Colorado electric co-op United Power stopped buying power from the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association on May 1, and has started buying power from Guzman Energy, a wholesale power supplier that says it focuses on “cheaper, better and cleaner energy sources.”

United Power says in its planning roadmap that independence from Tri-State will allow higher levels of self-supply through local renewable energy sources, and the opportunity to partner on more utility-scale projects. With its newfound freedom, United Power is initially developing a microgrid that will combine floating solar with storage.

United Power had been working to exit its contract with Tri-State for several years.

Two other co-ops, the Kit Carson co-op in New Mexico and the Delta Montrose co-op in Colorado, have already exited Tri-State, and now buy wholesale power from Guzman Energy.

Two more Colorado co-ops will soon follow suit. The Mountain Parks Electric co-op will exit Tri-State in early 2025, and has lined up a 20-year wholesale power contract with Guzman. The La Plata Electric co-op has voted to exit its contract with Tri-State in 2026.

The largest electric co-op in Colorado, known as CORE, has a power supply contract with Xcel Energy that ends late next year. CORE said that a wholesale power supply partnership it entered with Invenergy last year “signals CORE’s transformation to a fully independent electric utility with control of its power supply future.”

The partnership with Invenergy will provide CORE with 1.2 TWh of renewable energy per year, including 400 MW of new solar and wind projects and 100 MW of battery storage, backed up by 300 MW of existing natural gas generation, starting in 2026.

CORE says that given Colorado’s mandate to reduce 2005 carbon emission levels 80% by 2030, “we are using this mandate as a target for our emissions goals,” adding that “part of our mission is to listen to and implement the wishes of our members, which largely align with the state on this issue.”

CORE recently announced it will partner with co-op Holy Cross Energy to buy power from a 75 MW solar project in Colorado. HCE plans to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

CORE’s planned departure from its Xcel Energy agreement follows a CORE lawsuit over a year-long power outage at a coal plant that is majority owned by Xcel and partly owned by CORE. The lawsuit resulted in a damages award that required Xcel to pay $26 million to CORE.