Energize Weekly, June 13, 2018
Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electricity provider, submitted a plan to state regulators June 6 seeking to invest $2.5 billion in wind, solar and energy storage projects while closing two coal-fired power plants.
The proposed Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) would add 1,100 megawatts (MW) of wind power, 700 MW of solar resources and 225 MW of energy storage tied to solar projects.
At the same time, it would close 660 MW of coal-fired units by 2025, 10 years ahead of schedule, and reorient the utility’s 380 MW of natural gas-fired to use as flex power instead of baseload.
Although the utility received bids for new natural gas generation as part of a call for proposals, it decided not to add new gas-fired units. Several large coal-fired plants would, however, continue to operate in the state.
The result, the plan says, would be that by the year 2026, 55 percent of Xcel’s electricity would come from renewables, and emission levels of carbon dioxide will have dropped 60 percent from 2005 levels. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions, linked to ozone pollution, will drop 90 percent.
Xcel also estimates that it will create overall savings to customers of about $213 million.
“Our recommended plan secures long-term and low-cost renewable power, stimulates economic development in rural Colorado, and substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions – all at a savings to customers,” Alice Jackson, president of Xcel Energy Colorado, said in a statement. “It is a solid plan that moves Colorado forward.”
Xcel initially proposed the CEP in 2017, and it drew support from environmental and business groups, independent power producers who sell electricity to Xcel, unions and consumer advocates.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) gave Xcel approval to put together a full-scale plan in March. The utility delivered that plan in June for the commission’s final approval.
“Xcel’s Colorado Energy Plan is a true testament to how fast the cost of clean energy is dropping. This plan makes clear that we can power our communities with reliable, affordable, and clean power,” Zach Pierce, senior campaign representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Colorado, said in a statement.
Xcel had initially sought to own 50 percent of the new generating capacity, but under the proposed plan, it will own just 27 percent of the renewable resources and 58 percent of the natural gas generation.
“While less than the ownership targets contemplated . . . the Company believes that moving forward with a transition to clean energy is preferred,” Xcel said in its filing to the PUC.
The question of paying for the retirement of the coal-fired units, estimated by Xcel at $193 million, is being considered in a separate case before the PUC.
The two units are at the Comanche Station in Pueblo, Colo., and their retirement would result in a loss in taxes and jobs for the city and county, but Xcel said the plan offers “a beneficial path forward for Pueblo County.”
The county would be the site of a 525-MW solar project with 225 MW of battery storage and also a new switching station for a southern Colorado transmission “energy resource zone” to help foster the further development of renewable generating resources in rural Colorado.
At least seven other rural counties would benefit from projects, Xcel said, with wind projects going to the northeast and eastern parts of the state, and solar projects in the southern half and western portions of Colorado.
“We believe the proposal to retire coal plants and replace them with a combination of wind and solar energy and battery storage reinforces Colorado’s position as a national leader in clean energy,” said Erin Overturf, an attorney with the environmental policy group Western Resource Advocates. “Xcel’s plan would significantly reduce air pollution in our state . . . and create clean renewable energy jobs in Colorado communities.”
