Contractor picked for massive natural gas generator project | News | gazette.com

Mar 26, 2025

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Employees installed modular natural gas generators at Martin Drake Power Station in June 2022. ProEnergy Services was chosen to build 10 natural gas generators and related infrastructure at the Horizon Utility Campus southeast of Colorado Springs Airport.

Colorado Springs Utilities has selected the contractor to oversee a major construction project building 400 megawatts of natural gas generators on Colorado Springs' southeast side.

Utilities announced Thursday that ProEnergy Services, a Missouri-based energy company focused on power transitions, was chosen to build 10 natural gas generators and related infrastructure at the Horizon Utility Campus southeast of Colorado Springs Airport.

ProEnergy Services will receive $600 million-$650 million to build the generators. The gas generators were one of the largest projects listed as an incoming priority in the five-year utility budget that was approved last fall.

Expanding natural gas power has been a focus of the recent power investments in Colorado Springs as the city moves away from the coal generators at facilities like the Martin Drake Power Plant toward cleaner energy.

“The Horizon Utility Campus will play a premier role in our energy transition. These new generating units and other campus projects will go a long way toward providing customers with reliable energy for years to come," Utilities CEO Travas Deal said in a statement Thursday.

The Horizon Utility Campus, near the intersection of Drennan Road and Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard, had a power substation open last year and is expected to house a broader utility hub.

Utilities plans to eventually add 100 megawatts of batteries for energy storage, two gate stations connecting the generators to the natural gas system and a Utilities service center to the site.

Utilities spokesman Steve Berry said the municipal agency wanted a hub on the east side to have a base for utility trucks and other resources to be sent out. The power generated there is meant to keep up with the expected demands of new industrial developments around the airport.

"Just as important are our existing customers, because people are demanding more out of their energy now than ever before," Berry said.

Construction on the natural gas generators is scheduled to begin in the middle of 2026 and would be finished by May 2028.

Utilities will hold community meetings and calls later this year to talk to businesses and residents who live near the Horizon facility. The first event will be a virtual meeting at 6:30 p.m. on May 7. Berry said in-person meetings were expected to come after.

The proposed increase, which would take effect April 1, would increase the natural gas fuel rate by 2.4% for residential customers or roughly $6.47 per month for the average Colorado Springs home.

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