Credit La Plata Electric Association with the ability to keep a secret. The first report that state Sen. Chris Hansen had been hired as CEO of the member-owned electric distribution cooperative did not come out until Monday afternoon, Nov. 11. On Tuesday morning, he was already on the job.
I see Hansen’s move as part of a theme. The co-op world in Colorado has been attracting some bright minds.
Bryan Hannegan literally left the laboratory for the real world in July 2017 when he left the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to lead Holy Cross Energy in Glenwood Springs.
Then Mark Gabriel left the Western Area Power Administration to run the show at United Power in Brighton. He had written a book, ”Visions for a Sustainable Energy Future,” which was published in 2009.
Where Hansen’s story differs is that he arrives at LPEA on a course that has partly been charted.
Holy Cross Energy was still strapped at the hip with Xcel Energy and coal when Hannegan was hired. But he was given authority to define a more aggressive course for decarbonization even than Xcel.
United Power was already drifting toward the door in an exit from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association when Gabriel was hired in 2021. He created the strategy about how to go forward.
At LPEA, Hansen has taken the helm with a corner or two already rounded. His predecessor, Jessica Matlock, returned to the Pacific Northwest in mid-March. Ten days later, LPEA directors filed the conditional notice with Tri-State of plans to exit in two years, as required by its contract.
In mid-September, LPEA contracted with Mercuria to help it secure its power once it is independent of Tri-State, in March 2026. The same day Hansen started, LPEA announced an agreement (Herald, Nov. 12) to get some of its power from Tri-State.
The cooperative has 36,500 members in La Plata and Archuleta counties, and also serves parts of Hinsdale, Mineral and San Juan counties. Is Hansen a good fit for these counties? He grew up in Goodland, Kansas, just across the border from Colorado. He bucked hay bales as a boy.
As a high school junior, he became enamored of a nuclear reactor he saw during a field trip to Kansas State University. He returned there to earn a degree in engineering, but confided to me once that by his junior year he had become more intrigued by economics. He went on to earn a master’s degree in science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At Oxford University, he earned a Ph.D. in economic geography. While there, he was a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, focusing on solutions for bringing renewable power to underserved rural areas in India. He subsequently worked as an energy consultant with postings around the world. As a legislator, Hansen has played a major role in Colorado’s energy transition.
LPEA’s announcement had the kind, enthusiastic words you would expect. “Not only is Chris a visionary leader, but he is also deeply passionate about our industry and values our cooperative culture,” said Ted Compton, the board’s president.
Via a text, an LPEA member from Pagosa Springs had this to say: “Ecstatic.”
Do you need administrative experience to be an effective cooperative manager? Some think so and note that absence on Hansen’s resume.
Also in question is how Hansen will relate to some of the ranchers in Southwest Colorado. In Durango, he’s a perfect fit. But the outlying areas have somewhat different attitudes and a broader distrust of the “elites.”
I’ve gone to the annual meetings of United Power and Holy Cross Energy, and Gabriel and Hannegan speak very differently to their general membership than they do in other contexts. Moreover, I’ve sort of understood the level of patience required of those who can see ahead of others.
Will Hansen, despite his great knowledge, be able to communicate effectively? Does he have that patience and those skills?
I suspect he does.
Allen Best is a Colorado-based journalist who writes about Colorado’s energy and water transitions at BigPivots.com. Reach him at allen.best@comcast.net or (720) 415-9308.
