Full Title: Flexible, Clean Industry And Sustainable Energy Power Strong Economies: A Case Study in Pueblo, Colorado
Author(s): Michelle Solomon and Eric Gimon
Publisher(s): Energy Innovation
Publication Date: April 2, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The Comanche 3 coal plant in Pueblo, Colorado is scheduled to retire in 2031. Pueblo community leaders, utility Xcel Energy, and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission are debating plans for replacing the plant. The energy parks concept offers a win-win-win solution that would diversify Pueblo’s economy by keeping cheap energy in the community to power local industry instead of sending it to other parts of the state, generating property tax payments that peak at $40 million annually, and creating hundreds of permanent jobs in engineering, business operations, and industrial plant operation. This “energy park” combines solar and wind to generate clean electricity, along with batteries to store it on-site, with clean industries that match their energy usage to renewables generation. It would power local industries when needed or send electricity to the grid when supplies are low. The energy park could begin construction before 2030, years earlier than a small modular nuclear reactor (another proposed Comanche replacement), while being built step-by-step as new industrial customers add demand to reduce the risk for the community.