Another stair-step toward net zero

The year 2025 marked another push forward in Denver Water’s quest for sustainability.

For years, the utility has been working toward a goal of net zero carbon emissions. In 2024 it set a goal to meet that standard by 2030.

And in 2025, Denver Water hit a milestone in its progress toward that goal by producing more clean energy, in the form of solar and hydropower, than it purchased in fossil fuel based power, like natural gas and gasoline. 

If that sounds like “mission accomplished” territory, that’s a yes — and, not quite.

Currently, much of the hydropower Denver Water generates is sold to Xcel Energy through power purchase agreements. (Denver Water produces the power, Xcel Energy agrees to buy it.) 

And, in the math of clean energy accounting and the marketplace, the solar and hydroelectric electricity sold in a power purchase agreement belongs to the purchaser — who also gets to credit the green energy toward their own carbon emissions goals. The entity that generates that electricity doesn’t get to count it toward its own energy balance. 

So, in order to fully hit its net zero goal, Denver Water is working to generate — and get credit for — enough of its own electricity to fully offset what the utility consumes.

“This isn't net zero carbon for Denver Water, but it's another key step. We've crossed a threshold now, knowing we can produce enough energy to offset our usage,” said Kate Taft, sustainability director for Denver Water. 

“Our next steps will be to work to generate more clean energy to power our own operations — and also continue to drive down our own energy usage.”

Denver Water is using less energy due to its ongoing investments that reduce the amount of fossil fuel-based resources the utility needs to heat and cool buildings, light workspaces and fuel vehicles.

So, in short, 2025’s achievement is worth celebrating as another milestone along the way.

By the numbers, in 2025, Denver Water consumed 73,229,351 kilowatt-hour equivalents of energy, including electricity, natural gas and all vehicle fuels. Also in 2025, the utility’s solar and hydropower facilities generated 73,444,676 kWh equivalents.

The utility ended the year with a net positive on the clean energy count by 215,325 kWh equivalents, the energy equivalent of a whisker. 

“You can see the values are so close, it could have gone either way,” said Adam Hutchinson, the energy management specialist for Denver Water. He’s the guy who painstakingly runs and analyzes all the numbers.

Ultimately, Denver Water plans to formally reach its 2030 net zero carbon emissions goal with an array of tactics. 

• Powering all its largest facilities and its hydropower locations with the electricity it generates on site. 
• Continuing electrification and energy efficiency work to drive down the use of natural gas and propane within facilities.
• Continuing to add electric vehicles to replace the traditional gas- and diesel-fueled vehicles in the Denver Water fleet.
• Continuing the installation of renewable energy projects, such as solar arrays, on Denver Water facilities, as well as running pilot programs for emerging clean energy projects.

The goal remains ambitious, but reachable. 

The goal is also in keeping with larger, global trends in which countries and utilities across the world are investing in green energy resources that are cost competitive with — and increasingly cheaper than — traditional fossil fuel resources. 

State and local government as well as private companies in Colorado are doing the same.

“We are joining other leaders in our community in pushing hard toward these goals,” said Denver Water CEO/Manager Alan Salazar. “We want to inspire other utilities and major Colorado organizations to face the dangers of climate change head-on and work toward a future with fewer, even zero, carbon emissions.”

Denver Water’s work is also being conducted with ratepayers in mind.

As Denver Water invests in cleaner sources of energy, including energy it can generate at its own facilities, those investments will reduce the utility’s dependence on volatile energy markets that are highly vulnerable to geopolitics and other factors. 

Instead, Denver Water can stabilize its energy costs.

And that represents long-term savings, especially as the cost of traditional energy sources, both liquid fossil fuels and grid electricity, continue to move one direction: upward.

“We do this to protect our snowpack — we also do it to protect our ratepayers,” Taft said. “We champion both the environmental — and financial — returns.”