Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) Forum was honored to join Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) on August 3 for a site tour and roundtable In Tooele County, focused on how Utah can build the energy it needs to meet fast-rising demand.
A Firsthand Look at Horseshoe Solar
Projects like Horseshoe speak to a challenge facing states across the country. Meeting rising demand isn’t a matter of building new electricity supply; that supply needs to be paired with the infrastructure and permitting reforms needed to deliver it, all while keeping power affordable and reliable for existing customers.
The day began at Horseshoe’s Solar Project, a 75-megawatt facility built on state trust lands, owned and operated by D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI). Its power is already fully contracted, through Rocky Mountain Power, to serve a Meta data center in the state — a clear sign of how fast the market is moving. Data released last week by the energy think tank Ember underscored the broader shift underway: solar was Utah’s top source of electricity in May.
Rep. Maloy framed the milestone in terms of Utah’s all-of-the-above approach. “We know how to produce more electricity as demand rises, how to avoid using energy sources against each other and how to use all of them to meet the demands we know are coming,” she said. “Solar, as of May, is the number one energy source for Utah.”
Every Resource on the Table
The roundtable touched on solar, geothermal, wind and battery storage, along with the proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus in Tooele. It all aligns with Gov. Spencer Cox’s Operation Gigawatt, the state’s initiative to double Utah’s power-generating capacity within a decade. Rep. Maloy was joined by state and local officials and by representatives from DESRI, AES, NextEra Energy, Fluence and Enyo Renewable Energy.
Certainty and Transmission
Two themes ran through this conversation. The first was certainty. Rep. Maloy, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, made the case that permitting reform is not a single bill but a sustained effort, meant to outlast any one administration, so investors have the confidence to commit capital. “All the policy in the world doesn’t do any good if investors don’t want to show up,” she said. She credited Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) for keeping permitting reform bipartisan and pointed to the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act — which passed the House and now awaits Senate action — as an example of the progress that needs to carry through to law.
The second was transmission. Participants stressed that new generation only helps if it can reach the people who need it, and that expanding transmission and reducing interconnection delays matter as much as building new solar, wind and storage.
CRES Forum is grateful to Rep. Maloy for spending the day with us, to DESRI for hosting the tour and to everyone who took part in a productive conversation about keeping American energy secure, affordable and competitive.
Media coverage of the event may be found here:
Deseret News: “Renewable energy is growing in Utah, but not without obstacles”
Fox 13 News: “Solar becomes Utah’s top producer of energy”
Tooele Transcript Bulletin: “Congresswoman Celeste Maloy and the future of energy in Utah”