Xcel Energy said Wednesday it will back out of a $180 million transmission-line project in southern Colorado if state regulators impose certain conditions on the project.
In a hearing before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Xcel officials said a provision that the line carry a minimum amount of power is a deal-killer.
The proposed transmission line — from the San Luis Valley over La Veta Pass to the Front Range — is intended to carry newly developed solar and wind energy.
In November, an administrative- law judge recommended a condition that Xcel refund half the cost of the line to ratepayers if it fails to carry at least 700 megawatts of power within 10 years of completion.
“If this condition remains on the line, (Xcel) cannot go forward with building the line,” said Xcel attorney Paula Connelly. She termed the condition “arbitrary and capricious.”
But lawyers for a major foe of the line — Trinchera Ranch owner Louis Bacon — said the condition is appropriate and that the line should not be built if there is any uncertainty about finding enough power for it to carry.
Boulder-based environmental-research group Western Resource Advocates, a supporter of the line, suggested a less onerous condition for Xcel — that the line be required to transmit 355 megawatts of renewable energy.
Xcel said it could not live with that condition either.
Commissioners of the PUC are expected to rule on the judge’s recommended conditions next month.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
