The Colorado Public Utilities Fee on Wednesday scaled again Xcel Vitality’s formidable and costly plan to construct $15 billion in new era and transmission, suspending some tasks and trimming about $3 billion.
“Delaying among the new era would enable us to higher perceive the associated fee, worth, timing and want for the brand new transmission earlier than we’re dedicated to constructing it,” PUC Chairman Eric Clean mentioned.
Xcel Vitality, the state’s largest electrical energy supplier with 1.6 million electrical prospects, had proposed a plan to construct 7,100 megawatts of recent era, primarily wind, photo voltaic and storage, plus practically $3 billion in new transmission traces.
The different portfolio of tasks permitted by the PUC features a little greater than 5,800 MW of recent era and far much less transmission.
Underneath Xcel Vitality’s plan, two-thirds of the era capability would have been owned by Xcel Vitality and paid for by prospects. Within the different plan, the possession is nearer to a 50-50 cut up between the corporate and unbiased energy producers, or IPPs.
Unbiased energy producers construct their very own energy vegetation, wind farms and photo voltaic arrays and promote electrical energy to Xcel Vitality below contract.
“We’re nonetheless approving on this case virtually 6,000 megawatts of recent era,” Clean mentioned, “… representing over $12 billion in invested capital with extra more likely to rapidly observe up.”
Xcel Vitality is scheduled to supply one other solicitation for tasks subsequent summer season.
The PUC additionally adopted a efficiency incentive mechanism, which can maintain Xcel Vitality to the estimated value for its tasks.
“We recognize the commissioners’ measured strategy,” mentioned Cindy Schonhaut, director of the Colorado Workplace of Utility Shopper Advocate. “They tilted in favor of completion and treating the corporate extra prefer it was an IPP.”
“That is favorable to shoppers,” Schonhaut mentioned.
The corporate’s electrical useful resource plan should display how the utility will meet demand over the subsequent 4 years.
As well as this 12 months a part of the proposal was a clear vitality plan displaying the way it lower greenhouse gasoline emission 80% over 2005 ranges. Each the corporate’s plan and the PUC plan meet that aim largely counting on the closure of three coal-fired vegetation.
“We recognize the dialogue on the fee and its verbal approval of components of our proposed clear vitality plan,” Xcel Vitality mentioned in a press release.
“Whereas the permitted plan will increase renewable vitality to 77% of our vitality portfolio by 2030, our up to date most well-liked plan affords better advantages for patrons by including extra renewables (83% of our vitality portfolio by 2030), capturing extra federal tax {dollars}, lowering extra carbon emissions over time and is healthier for our union coworkers,” Xcel Vitality mentioned.
One of many huge issues was the associated fee and time of the proposed $3 billion in new transmission traces, which was necessitated by Xcel Vitality increasing its plan within the final 12 months to permit it to seize $10 billion in federal tax credit.
The value tag was six occasions larger than the corporate’s unique estimate for transmission. “We have been all bowled over,” Commissioner Tom Plant mentioned.
“Now we have a variety of transmission the place we’re releasing up capability by means of closures, and I want to see how we will finest reap the benefits of that capability earlier than we begin constructing new capability,” Plant mentioned.
The opposite concern the fee had with transmission was the timing of constructing traces relative to the development of wind and photo voltaic amenities. If the traces are delayed, era may very well be stranded or curtailed.
In Xcel Vitality’s most well-liked plan, modeling projected a 15% curtailment fee. Within the PUC plan, it’s 5%.
“The up to date most well-liked plan had excessive ranges of curtailment,” Commissioner Megan Gilman mentioned. “Ratepayers pay for that, you realize, and so I believe it’s vital to us and it’s our precedence to make sure that the cash that we’re seeing invested on behalf of the ratepayers is spent as correctly as doable.”
“A few of our neighbors are already struggling to pay their utility payments,” Gilman mentioned. “I can’t say that’s a great use of their cash.”
Clean mentioned that every one the era proposed by Xcel Vitality will finally be wanted, and he mentioned that the useful resource plan is just one aspect that might be driving charges.
“I’d wish to ask the corporate to supply us with a complete long-term fee evaluation that totally contains all the investments that the corporate is claiming to the monetary neighborhood that it’s going to make in Colorado,” Clean mentioned.
Among the many potential bills that would influence charges, Clean mentioned, are new distribution traces, wildfire mitigation, upgrades to transmission traces and calls for created as transportation goes electrical, extra buildings convert heating to electrical energy and extra distributed renewable era, comparable to rooftop photo voltaic and photo voltaic gardens, is constructed.
