Members of the public Monday praised Xcel Energy for its work toward reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, but urged the state’s largest utility to accelerate those efforts.
About 120 people packed a Colorado Public Utilities Commission public hearing in Denver to discuss Xcel’s proposed resource plan outlining how the company will meet consumer electric needs through 2015.
Xcel says the plan will allow it to reach a 10 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2017.
The utility hopes to meet Gov. Bill Ritter’s climate action plan goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
“This plan is a good start,” Xcel customer and Boulder resident Krista Nord back said. “I’m glad to see it, but I want to see more.”
Many of the people who addressed the PUC commissioners voiced similar sentiments and support for concentrating solar power, a technology that may be less expensive and more suitable for large-scale power generation than conventional solar power.
The PUC did receive 10 letters expressing concern that the plan’s environmental focus would lead to higher rates, commission staff said.
Xcel is proposing construction of a 200-megawatt concentrating solar power plant as part of its resource plan.
Mike Cerbo, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, expressed support for that part of Xcel’s plan, saying the project would create up to 300 contracting jobs and 200 permanent jobs.
Gerry Todd, who runs a nonprofit think tank, urged Xcel to calculate each consumer’s “carbon footprint,” or the amount of carbon emitted from their energy use in monthly bills.
Monday’s comments will be considered by regulators before they rule on the plan next year.
The PUC will hold hearings in June and July to consider remarks from parties who have filed to be interveners.
Xcel’s resource plan calls for the following by 2015: adding 800 megawatts of wind power; adding 250 megawatts of solar power; building a 480-megawatt natural-gas generating facility to replace two coal plants; adding another 800 megawatts of natural-gas generation elsewhere; and reducing 694 megawatts of consumption through customer-efficiency programs.
One megawatt of coal- or natural- gas-fired generation capacity powers 1,000 homes.
