Tri-State: Moving a cooperative power provider from coal to clean energy
A growing number of electric cooperatives are caught between their members’ demands for more renewable energy and restrictive, long-term contracts with power providers that rely mostly on coal. Over the past few years, co-op directors, staff, and members in rural Colorado and New Mexico have pressed one major power provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, to replace its coal plants with clean energy, and allow co-ops to build more local renewable energy projects.