Tri State G&T
Duane Highley is the CEO of Tri State G&T.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is a western giant, a cooperative power supplier made up of forty-five members, including forty-two electric distribution cooperatives and public power districts serving over a million electric consumers. Its CEO has referred to Tri-State as being "oddly named" since it operates in four states, across the panhandle of Nebraska, as well as in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Tri-State is not-for profit and is known for a being a leader in its huge swath of the western area in which it operates, being among the first cooperatives in the nation to adopt an Environmental Management System, which enables environmental compliance, enhances strategic planning, and promotes environmental stewardship. That is while determining the optimal mix of more than thirty generation resources to serve members, while having two rate decreases in the last three years.
That is about to change, although not by much. There is a lot going on and to explain the latest at Tri-State, Public Utilities Fortnightly went right to the top, to CEO Duane Highley. Listen in.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Your company is tackling the energy transition. Talk about that.
Duane Highley: Yes. We've got a responsible energy plan that we issued in 2019, back when nobody believed we were going to do it, and we're making it happen. We're going to have fifty percent of the energy our members use renewable in 2025.