Wind will speed Holy Cross Energy to 70% renewable goal

Holy Cross Energy, the electrical utility that serves Vail, parts of Aspen, and other locations along Interstate 70 in western Colorado announced goals in September 2018 that at once looked cautious and ambitious. Directors said they aimed to achieve 70% carbon-free electricity by 2030. They were — and still are — at about 39% clean energy. But Holy Cross in late August announced affirmatively that its 2030 goal would be met for sure by 2021 and possibly even by 2020. It will take this giant leap with completion of a new wind farm in eastern Colorado. Customers of Aspen Electric, the city utility, can be excused for yawning. After all, the city was able to hit 100% renewable energy in 2015, one of the first few utilities in the nation able to make that claim. It did so by bulking up on wind power from the Great Plains, specifically the panhandle of Nebraska, but also hydroelectric power from the big dams of the West, a bit of local and regional hydroelectric, plus a tiny amount of landfill gas.