Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the second-largest electrical utility in Colorado, will nearly double its power capacity through a 15- year, $5 billion plan approved by its board this week.
Included in the plan are a 600-megawatt, coal-fired plant in southeast Colorado and a 1,200- megawatt facility in southwest Kansas. The projects will come on line between 2013 and 2020.
Westminster-based Tri-State had earlier discussed plans to build a 1,200-megawatt plant in southeast Colorado. But last year, Hays, Kan.-based Sunflower Electric Power Corp. proposed to expand its coal-burning plant in Holcomb, Kan., to supply power to Tri-State.
Construction on the two- phase, $2.5 billion expansion about 50 miles east of the Colorado border will begin in 2010, said Tri-State spokesman Jim Van Someren. Construction of the $1.8 billion Colorado plant will begin in 2016. A site hasn’t yet been selected, Van Someren said.
Tri-State also will spend about $700 million on new transmission lines.
Funding for the projects will come from bonds and bank loans, Someren said.
The association is owned by and supplies power to 44 electrical cooperatives and power districts in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. It serves 1.2 million people.
Staff writer Greg Griffin can be reached at 303-820-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com.
