Tri-State announces new CEO and new wind farm

Westminster company planning to install 104-megawatt facility in eastern Colorado

In dual announcements Tuesday, TriState Generation and Transmission Association said it has named a new CEO and is adding its fifth utility-scale wind farm in Colorado.

Westminster-based Tri-State, which serves member electric cooperatives in Colorado and other states, has named Duane Highley as its new CEO. Highley, the current president and CEO of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., will start April 5.

He will succeed Mike McInnes, who is retiring.

In a separate announcement, Tri-State said it plans to install a 104-megawatt wind farm in eastern Colorado, which it said will boost its total power from wind in Colorado to 471 megawatts.

Tri-State has come under fire from some of its member associations and renewableenergy advocates for relying too much on coal at a time when the costs of wind and solar energy are falling and concerns about climate-changing emissions from fossil fuels are increasing.

But Tri-State says nearly a third of its power comes from renewable sources.

McInnes said in a statement that Tri- State has “worked to address the challenges of an ever-changing industry” while staying true to its mission.

Rick Gordon, Tri-State board chairman and president, commended McInnes for his work and said the energy supplier is “wellpositioned for the future.

“As CEO, (Highley) will work with our board of directors to advance a strong vision for the association’s future,” Gordon said. “He has spent the past 35 years working with two financially strong cooperatives and demonstrates leadership collabo-

rating with members, key stakeholders and public officials.”

Highley said in a statement that the Tri-State board, members and staff will work to “bolster what remains our key focus — serving the needs of our members so they can deliver on their promise to rural communities across the West.”

Tri-State supplies whole- sale power to 43 member electric associations in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Tri-State’s new wind project is a joint effort with EDP Renewables to install a 104-megawatt turbine farm about 20 miles south of Seibert in eastern Colorado.

The Crossing Trails Wind Farm, expected to start operating in 2020, will produce enough electricity annually to supply on average more than 47,000 rural Colorado homes, Tri-State said in a news release. It will be in the service territory of the K.C. Electric Association.

Critics of Tri-State have noted plans by Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electric utility, to shut down some of its coal plants early and produce more electricity from renewable sources. Late last year, Xcel started operating the Rush Creek Wind Project, a 600-megawatt wind facility in Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson and Lincoln counties that can produce enough electricity for about 325,000 homes.

In January, Tri-State announced it was doubling the power it will get from solar energy with the 100megawatt Spanish Peaks Solar Project north of Trinidad.

Tri-State is also reducing its coal-generating capacity, spokesman Lee Boughey said in an email.

“We have retired our capacity in the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico, and will retire Nucla Station by the end of 2022 and Craig Station Unit 1 by the end of 2025,” Boughey said.