Xcel to install 10,000 MW of wind and solar

 From Utility Dive

Xcel Energy is pushing ahead with plans to add 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy generation in Minnesota and Colorado, Frenzel, the utility's incoming CEO, said during an earnings call with investors on Thursday.

Frenzel said he plans to continue to advance Xcel's transition away from fossil-fuel fired plants to renewable sources of energy, crediting Fowke, the utility's soon-to-be-retired CEO, with having slashed carbon emissions by 51% in 2020 compared to 2005 levels.

"I am honored with the opportunity to lead this company and recognize the LeBron James-sized shoes I am filling," Frenzel said. "We will continue to lead the clean energy transition … and I am confident in our ability to capitalize on the growth opportunities in front of us."

In a major step in that direction, Xcel last month filed plans with Minnesota regulators to boost efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, raising its target emissions reductions from its previous goal of 80% to 85%.

In response to what it described as "significant opposition," Xcel has dropped plans for a combined cycle natural gas plant in the town of Becker to replace a coal-fired plant there, the company noted in its earnings release.

Xcel said it still plans to shut down the "A.S. King coal plant (511 MW) in 2028 and Sherco 3 coal plant (517 MW) in 2030," while "extending the life of the Monticello nuclear plant from 2030 to 2040." 

The company's revised Minnesota resource plan also calls for adding:

• 3,150 MW of solar; 
• 2,650 MW of wind;
• 250 MW of storage;
• 800 MW of new hydrogen-ready combustion-turbines (CTs);
• 1,900 MW of other firm dispatchable resources;
• 155 miles of new transmission lines;
• and repowering 300 MW of blackstart CTs.

In addition, Xcel's Minnesota resource plan also calls for the utility to make big gains on the energy efficiency front.

Xcel said it is targeting "780 gigawatt hours in energy efficiency savings annually through 2034," while also "adding 400 MW of incremental demand response by 2023 and a total of 1,500 MW of demand response by 2034," the utility noted in its quarterly earnings report.

Xcel is also moving ahead with major renewable investments in Colorado and Wisconsin as well.

The Public Service Co. of Colorado, Xcel's subsidiary, submitted a proposal in March to state regulators for a $1.7 billion transmission project.

The "560-mile, 345 kilovolt double circuit transmission network" would "enable approximately 4,000-5,000 MW of renewable generation in eastern Colorado," according to Xcel.

And in Wisconsin, the state Public Service Commission gave a green light to Xcel subsidiary NSP Wisconsin's $100 million acquisition of the "74 MW Western Mustang build-own-transfer solar facility," the company noted in its earnings report.

"We recently submitted an updated resource plan in Minnesota, which will allow us to reach our carbon reduction goals faster and at a lower cost to our customers," Fowke said in a press statement.

These are all exactly the sort of things electricity utilities will need to do to achieve zero-carbon: more wind and solar; more storage; gas peaking plants able to run on hydrogen (or more probably, green methane) and new HV interconnectors to shift surplus power across the grid.

Main St, Telluride, Colorado
source: National Geographic