More Proof New Energy Beats Old Coal

Tri-State rebuffs offer from Guzman Energy to buy and close 3 coal plants

Robert Walton, May 29, 2019 (Utility Dive)

“Guzman Energy announced Tuesday it reached out to Tri-State Generation and Transmission with a ‘large-scale, transformative, economic proposal’ to help rapidly decarbonize the generation supply for dozens of rural electric cooperatives [and save money for electricity customers], but its offer was rejected…Guzman offered to purchase and shutter three coal-fired units owned by Tri-State, and replace the power with a mix of generation more than 70% renewable through a long-term fixed-price agreement…Tri-State officials indicated they are not currently interested in the proposal, but could revisit the idea…

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Rocky Mountain Institute turned up the heat on Tri-State last year when it issued a report concluding 1 million consumers could save more than $600 million through 2030 if Tri-State retired some of its fossil-fuel plants. Now Guzman Energy says it has sufficient capital to [move Tri-State to 70% New Energy and] retire 800 MW of coal generation…Tri-State supplies power to 43 rural electric cooperatives and some of those members have asked regulators to exit their supplier, seeking cheaper, cleaner power…Approximately half of Tri-State's generation comes from coal…[Guzman's proposal] would have provided Tri-State with a ‘substantial direct cash infusion’ to finance the early retirement of nearly half of the utility's coal generation not already slated for early closure…” click here for more

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