Updated by Staff 

The state legislature on Tuesday finalized HB 1001 to increase the state’s renewable energy standard to 30 percent by 2020, an increase of 10% from the current bill.

One of the lead legislative supporters of the bill, Rep. Max Tyler, wrote in Sunday’s Denver Post, “There’s new energy in town, and it’s powering a boom that will make Colorado a leader in recovering from this financial downturn. This clean renewable energy will grow Colorado’s economy and lead to a brighter future.”

Colorado was one of the first states to adopt a renewable energy standard at all, committing in 2004 to get 10 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2015 and increasing that to 20 percent by 2020 in 2006. This latest measure puts the state right behind California, who has the highest standard at 33 percent by 2020.

The bill also requires utilities to get 3 percent of their electricity from distributed sources like rooftop solar and other smaller wind and solar installations in order to give a boost to local renewable energy and construction companies. According to the bill’s backers, that requirement alone will be responsible for 1 GW of clean energy, save 6.8 billion gallons of water and reduce emissions by 30 million tons of CO2 a year.

Once Gov Ritter puts his signature to HB 1001, Colorado will be the second only to California in the percentage of energy that utilities are required to provide from wind, solar, hydropower and geothermal sources. California’s stipulates that 33% of utility-delivered energy originate with renewables, including several large hydroelectric plants that are not on the table here in Colorado.

As we’ve previously reported in Colorado Energy News, Vote Solar, a San Francisco-based advocate for solar energy, has published a study predicting that the renewable-energy requirement would create more than 23,500 solar energy jobs in Colorado over the next decade, if a certain level of solar power is installed over that period of time.

Back in 2004, a lifetime ago in the clean energy world, Colorado voters approved Amendment 37 which required Xcel to provide 10 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2015.  That was the start of the state-mandated percentage of energy sourced from renewables, even though at the time Xcel opposed the measure. Ritter championed increasing the percentage in 2007 to the current 20%.