The future of Colorado Springs Utilities is built around major project investments, including the likely addition of nuclear power.

Utilities CEO Travas Deal explained the growing plans for electricity as part of his third annual “State of the Utility” speech on Wednesday morning, given to a mostly full crowd at the COS City Hub.

On June 17, the Utilities Board approved the new electric integrated resource plan, which guides Colorado Springs’ long-term power planning.

The approved electric plan calls for the utility to invest in solar panel arrays and renewable energy to handle the short-term increase in power demands. Starting around 2038, however, nuclear power would play a key role in supplying the city.

“It’s a transition we have to have so we keep the base load (power) for the future. That is a huge part of what I want to do for the community, is to have that energy resilience long into the future,” Deal said.

Deal pitched two pathways that Utilities was considering to add nuclear power. One was to build the power plant at or near the current site of the Ray Nixon Power Plant once the coal-burning facility comes offline in the early 2030s. Deal also said he was working on a possible agreement with public utilities in Nebraska to jointly support a nuclear power plant there.

“We’re not going to commit to nuclear no matter what, but we want to move down that pathway and hit the decision points along the way to meet that plan,” Utilities energy resource planning manager David Longrie previously told The Gazette.

The load forecast Utilities performed to support the electric resource plan indicated a massive increase in Colorado Springs’ peak power demand. Between 2017 and 2025, the maximum power load served by Utilities increased from 890 MW to 1,033 MW.

According to the forecast, that load’s maximum peaks are expected to increase by 500 MW by 2033 and make a similar jump again in the early 2040s.

Deal said that Utilities needed to continue building out all kinds of infrastructure to keep attracting businesses and new residents to Colorado Springs, while also encouraging customers to find ways to reduce their electric usage during peak hours.

“We have a community that is clearly very conscious about their usage. They have shown that with water and, we hope, with more conversation and understanding, electric will be the same,” Deal said.

A chart shown during Deal’s presentation showed that Colorado Springs’ population has steadily grown over the decades, but the city’s maximum acre-feet demand for water peaked around the turn of the century. Deal said that previous planning and investment in water storage were helping Colorado Springs avoid implementing stricter drought restrictions this year.

Utilities Board Chairman and City Councilmember Dave Donelson introduced Deal at the event and spent his speech defending the board’s decision earlier this year to increase Deal’s salary by $150,000 over the next two years. Donelson asked the attendees at the event to be ambassadors for Deal and make the case for the achievements he’s made since becoming CEO.

“I suspect some on the board will pay for that politically in the elections coming up in April … but that’s what leadership is. It will cost you something personally, but you do it because it’s right,” Donelson said.

Flanking the stage at the COS City Hub were displays overviewing upcoming projects for each of the four core services provided by Utilities: electricity, water, wastewater and natural gas. A Utilities van was parked right outside the building to demonstrate how they sent in cameras down wastewater pipes to find blockages and issues.