Colorado Coal Plant Proposals
Colorado currently receives more than 70 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, and plans are in place to build more. Here is a list of the current proposals. Follow the links to find out more about each proposal and what efforts are underway to oppose them:
| 1. Pueblo |
| 2. Lamar |
| 3. Limon |
| 4. Southeastern Colorado |
1. Pueblo
Location: Pueblo
Company: Xcel Energy
Type: Supercritical pulverized coal plant
Megawatts (MW): 750
Owner: Utility
The Xcel power plant is under construction and scheduled to be in service by 2010. A settlement between Xcel Energy and a group of citizens and environmental organizations resulted in the groups agreeing to drop their opposition to the plant in exchange for Xcel’s agreement to reduce air pollution from two existing coal fired generating units at the site and significantly increase investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency resources. Two other citizens groups are continuing to take legal action to halt the plant’s construction.
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.
2. Lamar
Location: Lamar
Company: City of Lamar
Type: Conversion of gas plant to coal plant
Megawatts (MW): 30
Owner: CO-OPS
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.
3. Limon
Location: Limon
Company: Radar Acquisitions Corporation
Type: Pulverized coal or circulating fluidized bed plant
Megawatts (MW): 500
Owner: Merchant
Radar has proposed a $900 million lignite powered coal plant
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.
4. Eastern Colorado - Tristate Generation
Location: Have not chosen location, potentially near Lamar
Company: Tri-State
Type: Conventional pulverized coal
Megawatts (MW): 600
Owner: CO-OPS
Tri-State is looking into building two 700 MW plants in Kansas as well as the 600 MW proposed plant in Southeastern Colorado. Western Resource Advocates analyzed data provided by Tri-State to show that the construction of these plants, a $5 billion project, would result in wholesale rates jumping at least 64% in the next five years. In addition, Tri-State has the ability to meet the energy demands of its customers without building any additional coal plants.
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.