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Friday, Apr. 10, 2026

Does 40% of Colorado’s electricity come from renewable energy?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
yes

Renewable energy made up at least 43% of electricity generated in Colorado in 2025, U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows.

That’s roughly 24.7 million megawatt hours. Of that amount, wind power accounted for 69%, industrial or personal solar panels for 23% and conventional hydropower for 7.5%. Less than 1% came from biomass.

Historically, coal-burning power plants generated most of Colorado’s electricity, but coal use has declined in recent years. In 2001, coal powered more than 75% of Colorado’s electricity generation. Last year, it accounted for just under 25%. Colorado has six remaining operational coal plants, all slated to close by 2031.

The growth of solar and wind energy largely fueled Colorado’s turn toward renewables. Wind energy increased from approximately 14% of the state’s electricity overall in 2015 to 30% last year. Solar power increased from 0.5% overall to nearly 10% in the same period.

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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

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