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Settlement with Xcel on its Resource Plan
January 6, 2005
A coalition of environmental and energy advocacy groups, including the
Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES), signed an agreement with
Xcel Energy in December concerning the utility's resource plan. In
exchange for Xcel building a new 750-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power
plant (Comanche 3), the utility will now include stringent emissions
reductions strategies, and major commitments to demand side management
that it had not previously included in this plan. Xcel also agreed to
a “carbon adder” in the future when it conducts future electric
resource plans.
The agreement stipulates that Xcel must build Comanche
3 to the state-of-the-art and reduce emissions at the existing
Comanche 1 and 2 generators in Pueblo to boot. The total sulfur and
nitrogen oxide emissions will decrease from all Comanche plants, even
when those from the new 750-MW power plant are included. Combined
emissions of mercury from the three units will also decrease.
In addition, Xcel will create statewide energy
efficiency and demand-side management programs; sponsor and fund
educational and pollution mitigation programs in Pueblo; and sponsor a
study about the cost and impacts on the power system of increasing
wind power to 15% of total generation. This is half again as much as
required by Amendment 37. The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
publishes online the details of the demand-side management portion of
the settlement (PDF 74 KB).
http://www.swenergy.org/news/XCEL_Energy_Settlement_DSM_Language.pdf
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved
Xcel's resource plan on December 17, which means the utility will
begin to implement it and build the new power plant. In addition to
CRES, the following organizations signed the agreement with Xcel:
Better Pueblo, the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo, the City and County of
Denver, the Colorado Coalition for New Energy Technologies, the
Colorado Energy Consumers Group, the Colorado Office of Consumer
Counsel, Environment Colorado, Environmental Defense, the Sierra Club,
Smart Growth Advocates, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
(SWEEP), Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and
Western Resource Advocates.
For details about the agreement, see Xcel Energy's
December 3 news release.
http://www.xcelenergy.com/XLWEB/CDA/0,3080,1-1-1_15531_18513-16686-0_0_0-0,00.html
For the view from the other side of the table, read
SWEEP's December 3 press release (PDF 123 KB)
http://www.swenergy.org/media/pr2004_1203.pdf
The coalition believes its benefits in reduced
emissions and increased demand-reduction programs in Colorado are a
tolerable compromise to balance the negative impacts of Xcel building
another coal-fired plant. Taking everything into consideration, it is
a step in the right direction.
CRES thanks Ron Larson, Ron Lehr, and Southeast CRES
and Better Pueblo's Tom Corlett, Larry Howe-Kerr, and Vicky Massam for
their hard work to hammer out the details of this agreement. Thanks
also to CRES allies that contributed considerable time and effort to
this agreement: John Nielsen and Rick Gilliam of Western Resource
Advocates, Matt Baker of Environment Colorado, Vicky Patton of
Environmental Defense, Ross Vincent of the Pueblo Sierra Club, and
Howard Geller of SWEEP. |
