Xcel Energy — faced with a sharp drop in projected electricity demand in Colorado — is considering abandoning a controversial, $180-million power line into the San Luis Valley, company officials said.
In a filing with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Xcel slashed its projected growth in electricity demand through 2018 to 292 megawatts from a 2010 estimate of 1,000 megawatts.
“If the PUC agrees with the assumptions, as we laid out in the resource plan, then we will not pursue the Southern Colorado Transmission Project,” said Mark Stutz, an Xcel spokesman.
Xcel was going to build the 150-mile line with the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Xcel wanted the line to export solar power. Tri-State said it needs the line to improve reliability.
“The reliability needs of southern Colorado and the San Luis Valley haven’t changed,” said Lee Boughey, a spokesman for Tri-State. “We will examine all the options, nothing is off the table.
The seven-year resource plan Xcel filed with the PUC states that the company will need no new generation.
The recession and current weak economy, together with the success of energy efficiency programs and more people putting solar panels on their homes, helped cut the projected need, the company said.
Xcel said that it would seek to buy the extra power from existing independent power plants rather than add its own generation capacity.
“We are well positioned to continue providing our customers with clean, reliable and affordable power without making any more significant generation investments,” David Eves, chief executive officer of Xcel’s Public Service Co. of Colorado, said in a statement.
The company said that it is set to meet Colorado’s requirement that 30 percent of the utility’s generation come from renewable sources through 2028.
In the seven-year resource plan filed with the PUC, Xcel proposed that no new targets for additional renewable energy be set.
Instead, Xcel said it wanted to purchase wind and solar on a “opportunistic” market basis.
“We want the flexibility to take advantage of the best prices for our customers,” said Michelle Aguayo, an Xcel spokeswoman.
Under the last resource plan, filed in 2007, Xcel acquired about 1,075 megawatts of wind generation and 60 megawatts of additional solar photovoltaic generation.
That brings the utility’s renewable total to 2,100 megawatts of wind and over 80 megawatts of utility scale solar by the end of 2012.
A megawatt is enough energy to power about 750 homes.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
