Scott Weiser’s analysis cuts through the spin: Colorado is courting power-hungry data centers while sprinting toward a 2040 “100% renewable electricity” target. The governor’s shop insists the state is “open for new business,” touts grants and “low energy prices,” and repeats the mantra that they’re cutting pollution, strengthening the grid, and saving you money. Even they concede natural gas “does play an important role” for reliability… before scolding it for price volatility and emissions. Meanwhile, experts warn demand from EVs, growth, and data centers collides with weather-dependent renewables unless dispatchable backup – gas or small modular nuclear – is in the mix. Rates are already up, and procurement bottlenecks make new capacity slow and expensive.
The competitive landscape isn’t kind. Wyoming is poaching projects by advertising abundant gas and reliability; its developers (Microsoft among them) are expanding in Cheyenne while Colorado wrangles mandates, equipment shortages, and ballooning grid costs. Even Xcel’s CEO is saying the quiet part out loud: data centers are moving to self-generation with on-site gas, and AI demand “prompts new large nuclear considerations.”
The Bullet Point Brief
- Polis world: “From day one we’ve cut pollution, strengthened our grid, and saved Coloradans money.” The 2040 100% renewables aim is the banner. The Energy Office calls Colorado “open for new business.”
- Reality check: surging load from data centers, population, and electrification strains a grid dependent on variable wind/solar. Dispatchable backup (gas turbines or SMRs) is essential as coal retires.
- Your bill: residential electric rates rose ~24% since 2015 (Xcel +24%, Black Hills +24%, Tri-State +26%); Xcel seeks $22B through 2029 for renewables, storage, and grid upgrades.
- Scarce hardware: multi-year delays for transformers and gas turbines; Xcel says sourcing both generators and transformers is tough. Power Pathway’s $1.7B, 650-mile line is already on ratepayers.
- Go where power is: Wyoming touts reliable gas; a low-carbon gas deal is feeding a hyperscale campus. Colorado’s own experts admit “if Colorado can’t meet energy demand, data centers aren’t coming.”
My Bottom Line
Many “in the know” say Colorado cannot meet its clean-energy promises on the current course, and this piece backs them up. You cannot yank coal and clean-burning natural gas off the field and expect to avoid a rolling brownout or twelve. The Legislature has virtue-signaled its way into an unsustainable electricity quandary; the needs of industry – never mind in-home use – are outpacing the fairy-tale timelines. Even the governor’s own spokespeople admit, between the slogans, that gas “does play an important role” to keep the lights on while they chase wind/solar expansions. That’s not me talking — that’s them.
Colorado simply can’t hang its hat on green-energy pipe dreams. If the Gold Dome crowd truly wants to “electrify everything,” then natural gas and nuclear have to be in the lineup. The article spells out why: data centers demand 24/7, not “whenever the wind cooperates.” Xcel’s CEO says data centers are already building on-site gas for reliability and even flagging “new large nuclear” for AI loads. Translation: the adults in the room are quietly rebuilding the dispatchable backbone our politicians keep pretending we don’t need.
Governor Gaslight’s talking points – “we cut pollution, strengthened the grid, saved you money” – are Campaign Ad Mad Libs. The Front Range remains non-attainment, rates are up ~24% since 2015, and ratepayers are buying a $1.7B, 650-mile transmission project while we wait years for turbines and transformers. That isn’t grid “strengthening”; it’s grid wish-casting with your wallet.
We need an all-of-the-above strategy that treats gas and nuclear as the reliability anchors while renewables do what they do best. Instead, the virtue-signalers have already picked their winner and it isn’t the most reliable. Keep this up and Colorado will be “leading the nation” in the most progressive goal of all: sitting in the dark, paying record rates, and congratulating ourselves by candlelight.
