HYDRO LAW
Colorado State Representative Hugh McKean on Passing Legislation to Designate Pumped Hydropower as Renewable
The Colorado State Capitol in Denver.
A
practical side of things—having to figure things out and apply common sense. Today, I am the state representative for Colorado’s House District 51, which centers on Loveland, Colorado. A lot of my energy focus comes from that fact that Loveland is one of four cities in northern Colorado that owns its own power utility. Over the years, I’ve managed to spend a lot of time talking about hydro, solar, and wind. We actually have one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. I am fascinated by it and have spent some time in our control room, understanding what the power curve looks like and what the demand and generation side looks like. I got deeply involved in that. I’m currently part of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Energy Executive Leadership Program.
Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current role.
Hydro Leader: What was the problem that you were trying to address with your new bill?
Representative McKean: I grew up farming in northern Missouri as one of three kids. We had to figure out how to fix stuff, and a lot of what I’m doing now grows out of that
Representative McKean: As I started getting deeper into the state statutory requirements for renewable energy, I became interested in what was counted as renewable and
32 | HYDRO LEADER | June 2021
hydroleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANGLC.
s of April 2021, energy generated by pumped hydroelectric facilities in Colorado counts as renewable under state energy standards. Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, made the change official when he signed into law a bill sponsored by two Republicans, State Representative Hugh McKean and State Senator Rob Woodward. The new law will apply to energy generated by facilities that produce less than 15 megawatts (MW), are not located on natural flowing waterways, and do not rely on fossil fuel generation to pump water. In this interview, we speak with Representative McKean, the leader of the Republicans in the Colorado House, about the motivation behind his bill; how he gathered input from all interested parties, including environmental groups; and how he built bipartisan support for the change.
