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Tim Fitzpatrick

Renewable Energy Reporter

Tim Fitzpatrick is the renewable energy reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune. In his 40 years at The Tribune, he has produced award-winning journalism as a reporter, writer and editor.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The sun sets over Rocky Mountain Power's Gadsby Plant in Salt Lake City. Rocky Mountain Power has filed a request with Utah regulators to raise electrical rates — which, if approved, would be the biggest such rate hike in 32 years.

Rocky Mountain Power wants you to pay 30% more in next 18 months

By Tim Fitzpatrick | June 30, 2024, 6:19 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Construction of a new green-energy system at International Power Project's coal-fired power plant in Delta on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.

Utah wants to keep IPP’s coal burning — but who will buy the electricity?

By Bryan Schott | Tim Fitzpatrick | June 21, 2024, 1:43 a.m.

(Tim Fitzpatrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brian Maholy, facility manager for Natural Bridges National Monument, stands in front of the monument's solar array with the Bears Ears in the background.

44 years ago, this Utah national monument made history

By Tim Fitzpatrick | June 6, 2024, 11:55 a.m.

(The Salt Lake Tribune) Owners of the Bonanza Power Plant in eastern Utah are asking state regulators to let them update the plant so it can continue to burn coal into the 2040s.

Utah’s 4th largest coal power plant asks to keep burning into the 2040s

By Tim Fitzpatrick | May 5, 2024, 3:16 a.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) WInd turbines rotate in Beaver County. Utah communities' efforts to bring in more renewable energy sources have faced headwinds, including Rocky Mountain Power's decision to back away from clean power purchases this decade.

These 18 Utah cities and towns still want clean energy, even as RMP backs off

By Tim Fitzpatrick | April 22, 2024, 12:05 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District plans to put solar panels over a quarter-mile stretch of the Layton Canal in West Haven. Monday, April 15, 2024.

Here’s one solution to save water and generate clean power in Utah

By Tim Fitzpatrick | April 16, 2024, 12:08 p.m.

In this Sept. 8, 2015 photo, a natural gas rig pumps away in the foreground of the coal-fired Huntington Power Plant west of Huntington, Utah. PacifiCorp, which owns the plant, has reversed its plan to retire it early. (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)

In climate setback, Rocky Mountain now says it plans to burn coal in Utah until 2042

By Tim Fitzpatrick | April 2, 2024, 12:40 a.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Graphite Solar solar farm in Wellington on Thursday, July 27, 2023. There are no working solar farms on Bureau of Land Management land in Utah yet, but they are coming.

See where the feds want more Utah solar farms — lots more — and where they don’t

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 29, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bingham Copper Mine on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Once the largest open-pit mine in the world, it continues to produce 1% of the world's copper.

The mining never stops, but Kennecott’s massive open pit grows — slowly

By Tim Fitzpatrick | Megan Banta | March 28, 2024, 3:12 p.m.

(rPlus Energies) Workers for Sundt Renewables install solar panels at the Appaloosa solar project near Cedar City, which recently started generating power. The same company will install the Green RIver Energy Center, which will include Utah's largest lithium battery array.

Capturing the sun: Solar project quadruples its battery storage to keep lights on in Utah

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 21, 2024, 9:30 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Emissions from a Salt Lake City area refinery during a hazy inversion in December 2023. Utah's carbon dioxide emissions, which cause climate change, average out to about 18 tons per person per year. The global average is below 5 tons.

Utah ranks among worst in the world in this critical climate change metric

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 18, 2024, 8:47 p.m.

(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Which Utah city has the most clean cars? Data reveals the changing ways we drive.

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 14, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Hunter Power Plant in Emery County is shown in July 2022. Utah legislators passed bills to keep Huntington and other coal plants running longer despite their impact on climate change.

Utah Legislature passed its coal agenda. What’s next for power plants and your utility bills?

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 15, 2024, 8:43 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Robin Carnahan (in foreground in red shirt) tours the modernization of the Frank E. Moss U.S. Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

One of Utah’s oldest federal buildings will be one of its cleanest — energywise

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 13, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Fervo Energy) The Cape Station enhanced geothermal plant outside Milford is expected to start producing power by summer 2026.

Fracking for heat: Utah could become home to world’s largest enhanced geothermal plant

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 9, 2024, 1:00 p.m.

(VJ Anderson via Wikimedia Commons) A female Wilson's phalarope in Oregon. Utah legislators passed a bill that doesn't allow state wildlife officials to follow the American Ornithological Association's plan to change the bird's name.

Politically correct bird names? That doesn’t fly with Utah Legislature.

By Tim Fitzpatrick | March 8, 2024, 12:39 a.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Karina Sucahyo explains her team's project for the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge as her teammate Grace Min looks on during an interview at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024.

Young Utah inventors aim for devices that someday could save your plants, even your child

By Tim Fitzpatrick | February 29, 2024, 1:00 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Huntington coal-fired power plant in Emery County is shown in 2022. The Utah Legislature is considering a bill to keep it and the nearby Hunter plant running by shifting more costs and risk to Utah customers of Rocky Mountain Power.

This bill shifts costs to Utahns for wildfire insurance claims and keeping coal plants running

By Tim Fitzpatrick | February 23, 2024, 5:19 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A man rides a Lime scooter up South Temple on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. Rental scooters logged nearly a million miles in Salt Lake City in 2023.

Rental scooters are booming in SLC and across Utah. Is that good news?

By Tim Fitzpatrick | February 22, 2024, 1:00 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Workers from Varda Space Industries check out the capsule at the Wendover Airport after it landed in the West Desert on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024.

Orbiting drug factory lands in Utah in dawn of a new era

By Tim Fitzpatrick | February 22, 2024, 4:31 p.m.

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