The Colorado Sun would like you to believe this is a story about Xcel shamefully backsliding on its clean-energy commitments because environmental advocates are upset. That is the Michael Booth frame, and with Booth you always have to read with one eyebrow raised. He is not just reporting a utility reliability problem. He is narrating a morality play for Colorado’s climate priesthood. Still, buried under the sighing and scolding is the actual news: Xcel says it could be as much as 608 megawatts short of peak summer power demand and plans to cover that gap the old-fashioned way, with coal and natural gas.
Imagine that. When people want air conditioning during record heat, the laws of physics stubbornly refuse to yield to virtue signaling under the Gold Dome. Xcel is now normalizing the phrase “fill the gap,” which is a polite corporate way of saying, “we do not have enough reliable generation because the state’s energy class has been trying to run the grid on aspiration, subsidies, and press releases.” So now the utility is looking at extending gas turbines, keeping coal units around longer, and finding any dependable source it can get its hands on before summer demand hits.
And right on cue, the environmental lobby loses its ever-loving mind at the thought of using energy sources that actually work on demand. Their answer, as the article makes clear, is more “demand response,” more distributed generation, more customer behavior management, and more magical thinking dressed up as innovation. In other words, when the grid cannot meet demand, their answer is not to make more power. It is to make you use less of it, or let Xcel fiddle with your house when it gets hot. That is not energy abundance. That is managed scarcity with better branding.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Xcel told regulators it may be short by up to 608 megawatts during peak summer demand and is looking to coal and natural gas to close the gap. Funny how, when things get real, reliable power suddenly gets very popular again.
- The article says Xcel is considering more coal from Craig, fuller operation at Hayden, extending natural gas turbines, and keeping other fossil fuel plants alive longer than planned. So yes, after years of green sermonizing, the backup plan is still the stuff that keeps the lights on.
- Part of the shortfall stems from failures at major facilities, including Comanche 3, Hayden, and Cabin Creek. Reliability matters, and a grid built on political vibes instead of durable capacity eventually sends you the bill.
- Environmental groups quoted in the article say Xcel is backsliding and should lean harder into demand response, distributed generation, and other cleaner options. Translation: when supply is shaky, they want more programs where you “voluntarily” let the utility micromanage when your power gets used. What a future.
- Xcel says it is balancing reliability, affordability, and long-term clean-energy goals. That sounds nice, but the larger truth is plainer: Colorado’s overzealous political class demanded a transition faster than the grid could honestly support, and now the utility is scrambling to patch the hole with the very fuels the activists keep demonizing.
My Bottom Line
This is what happens when legislators and activists confuse aspiration with engineering. They pass mandates, hold hearings, pat themselves on the back, and pretend they have repealed the basic requirements of a functioning electrical grid. Then summer comes. Air conditioners kick on. Demand spikes. And suddenly everybody remembers that “clean energy transition” does not mean much if people cannot count on the power staying on. Physics is rude that way.
The environmental crowd quoted here wants to blame fossil fuels for the problem, which is rich. Coal and natural gas are not the reason Xcel is trying to fill a summer gap. Coal and natural gas are the reason Xcel has any credible way to fill it at all. The very resources the climate lobby treats like contraband are the ones standing between Colorado and a much uglier reliability mess. That is not ideology. That is what the article itself shows.
And let’s talk about “demand response,” because that phrase always gets scrubbed clean before the public hears it. Sounds so smart. So modern. So efficient. In practice, it means enrolling more people in programs where the utility gets more control over when and how energy gets used, especially when it is hot and demand is high. They call it flexibility. A lot of normal people call it, “Why is the grid designed around making my life smaller?” Fair question.
Colorado needs to stop pretending it can meme its way into energy security. We need what works. Coal where needed. Natural gas, absolutely. Transmission that makes sense. Maintenance that is serious. And for the love of God, can we please start permitting nuclear plants like adults who intend to have an economy twenty years from now? Reliable, abundant power is not a luxury item. It is the foundation. And every time the state’s ruling class forgets that, somebody else has to fire up another gas turbine to save them from their own slogans.
Source: The Colorado Sun
Share your thoughts...