6 Comments

All LCOE calculations are fatally flawed. See here:

https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/debunking-levelized-cost-of-energy

And here:

https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/no-solar-isnt-cheap

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Will Toor at 20:09 says... the actual use of that gas generation is going, will be going down over time..... OTOH, I finally broke the code at U.S. EIA for Colorado Natural Gas Deliveries to Electric Power Consumers (MMcf) Here's the Colorado annual consumption for the last five years....

2019 130,775

2020 140,222

2021 116,288

2022 126,746

2023 133,188

Sure does not look like Colorado gas use is decreasing! You can see yourself. The monthly and annual data is at http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3045co2m.htm FWIW, California's annual usage is about six times Colorado's.

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I think Will Toor is wrong about "nuclear" in statute. In Colorado statutes, the definition of "clean energy" varies depending on the specific context and legislative framework. For instance, under the Rural Clean Energy Project Finance Program, "clean energy" is defined as energy derived from sources such as biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, small hydroelectricity, wind energy, and hydrogen produced from these sources. From what I understand, HB25-1040 intends to definitely include nuclear in the statute. Interestingly, the Colorado Energy Office is tasked with promoting various forms of energy, including "clean and renewable energy" like wind, hydroelectricity, solar, and geothermal, as well as "cleaner energy sources" such as biogas, biomass, and nuclear. However, as of January 2025, the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) has not actively promoted nuclear energy as part of the state's clean energy initiatives. In 2022, nuclear power was not included in Governor Jared Polis's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, which aims for 100% carbon-free energy by 2040. It appears that Colorado gives lip service to nuclear but nothing else. We will be left behind as other states seek nuclear to power their grids.

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Colorado's lip service to nuclear, indeed!

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Is Polis's 100 renewable plan no longer the goal of the administration? That's a big departure from what he campaigned on in 2017 and 2018. https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/inline-files/ROADMAPTO100%25RENEWABLE.pdf?usp=sharing

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Such a clarification from 2017-18 explicitly emphasizing the "technology-agnostic" absence of pollution from nuclear power is overdue. I remain optimistic that Colorado Governor Polis may be persuaded to make this important change.

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