Reporting Highlights
- Operation Gigawatt: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared last year that the state would double energy production in the next decade using an “any of the above” approach to power sources.
- Growing Energy Source: Solar projects have been coming online faster than any other source in Utah and account for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.
- Hostile Legislation: Cox signed bills that will make it more difficult and expensive to develop and produce solar energy, ending tax credits for development and imposing a tax on generation.
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox believes his state needs more power — a lot more. By some estimates, Utah will require as much electricity in the next five years as it generated all last century, to meet the demands of a growing population as well as chase data centers and AI developers to fuel its economy.
To that end, Cox announced Operation Gigawatt last year, declaring the state would double energy production in the next decade. Although the announcement was short on details, Cox, a Republican, promised his administration would take an “any of the above” approach, which aims to expand all sources of energy production.
Despite that goal, the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority, with Cox’s acquiescence, has taken a hard turn against solar power — which has been coming online faster than any other source in Utah and accounts for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.
Cox signed a pair of bills passed this year that will make it more difficult and expensive to develop and produce solar energy in Utah by ending solar development tax credits and imposing a hefty new tax on solar generation. A third bill aimed at limiting solar development on farmland narrowly missed the deadline for passage but is expected to return next year.
While Operation Gigawatt emphasizes nuclear and geothermal as Cox’s preferred sources, the legislative broadside, and Cox’s willingness to go along with it, caught many in the solar industry off guard. The three bills, in their original form, could have brought solar development to a halt if not for solar industry lobbyists negotiating a lower tax rate and protecting existing projects as well as those under construction from the brunt of the impact.
“It took every dollar of political capital from all the major solar developers just to get to something tolerable, so that anything they have under development will get built and they can move on to greener pastures,” said one industry insider, indicating that solar developers will likely pursue projects in more politically friendly states. ProPublica spoke with three industry insiders — energy developers and lobbyists — all of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear of antagonizing lawmakers who, next month, will again consider legislation affecting the industry.