Xcel Energy will seek to boost its renewable generation by nearly 50 percent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10 percent over the next 10 years, the company said today.
Colorado’s largest utility plans to shut down four coal-burning units at two power plants — the Arapahoe Generating Station in Denver and the Cameo Generating Station east of Grand Junction. The move will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.4 million tons a year, leading to a 10 percent reduction by 2017 compared with 2005 levels.
Xcel will replace those plants, which have 229 megawatts of generation, with a 480-megawatt natural-gas generating facility, to be built at the Arapahoe location. The company will also seek to add 800 megawatts of natural-gas generation separately.
On the renewable front, Xcel said it will add by 2015 about 1,050 megawatts of generation — 800 megawatts of wind power and roughly 250 megawatts of solar power.
The plans are outlined in Xcel’s Electric Resource Plan, which the Minneapolis-based company said it plans to file with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission today. The plan will forecast consumer electric needs through 2015 and how Xcel will meet them.
The additional use of renewable power — which is more expensive than coal-fired generation — will lead to a slight increase in monthly bills for Xcel customers.
“We anticipate that this incremental cost for the renewable energy between now and 2015 will be consistent with the renewable energy standard laws, which says you can’t go up more than 2 percent over the cost of conventional energy and resources,” Xcel chief executive Dick Kelly said in an interview today.
By 2015, 20 percent of Xcel’s generation will come from renewable sources, according to the company.
“Not only are we keeping our costs reasonable, we’ll continue to exceed our renewable energy compliance goals,” Kelly said.
Kelly said Xcel’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, a goal recently set by Gov. Bill Ritter.
“We’re pretty confident that we’re on the cutting edge as far utilities in the country who are looking at these issues and trying to find ways to reduce their emissions,” said Frank Prager, Xcel’s vice president of environmental policy. “We’re not aware of anybody else who’s doing anything as dramatic as this.”
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
