Colorado ranks seventh in U.S. energy production thanks, in part, to an expanding amount of energy production from renewable resources across the state.
The ranking, with Colorado between North Dakota in sixth and Louisiana in eighth place, was announced by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in July. (Texas, which is responsible for 22% of the country’s energy production, leads the list.) The report shows that natural gas and crude oil lead the increase in Colorado’s energy production with coal production declining.
Renewable electricity generation in Colorado increased from 5.1 million megawatt-hours in 2010 to 13.9 million megawatt-hours in 2019. That increased renewables’ share of electricity generation in Colorado from 10% to 25% during that period. Wind has been the primary source of new renewable electricity generation, having tripled since 2010. It now provides nearly 20% of the electricity generated in Colorado.