Xcel Petitions to Keep Colorado Coal-Fired Power Plant Operating Past Planned Retirement

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Xcel Energy has petitioned Colorado regulators to further extend the operating life of a coal-fired unit originally planned to retire at the end of last year.

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Another Extension

Xcel Energy this week petitioned Colorado's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to allow the 335-megawatt Comanche 2 coal-fired power unit in Pueblo to continue running another 15 months past the plant's planned retirement at the end of this year, until March 2028.

The unit already has received a lifeline from state regulators, who late last year allowed the plant to run another 12 months through 2026 after an originally planned retirement date of December 2025. If the Colorado PUC approves Xcel's latest extension request, the unit could run more than two years past its originally planned 2025 retirement date.

But Is There an End in Sight?

However, the possibility of running the unit even longer doesn't seem out of the realms of possibility as Xcel has been plagued with reliability problems from Comanche 2's sister coal-fired unit, the 750-MW Comanche 3. That unit has been offline since August and is expected to return online in July, but its track record for consistent operations is not good.

It all started in 2009, when the unit was originally planned to go online, but was delayed from starting up due to leaking steam tubes. Since that time, the unit has been plagued with problems, and the Denver Gazette reported in an April article that the unit was offline an average of 91 days each year during its first decade of operation. This latest offline incident is expected to last around 11 months with no unanticipated delays.

Comanche 3's persistent problems have been one of the prime reasons for keeping the smaller, 50-year-old Comanche Unit 2 operating.

Supply Crunch

In addition to the reliability problems brought by Comanche Unit 3, Xcel is facing a power supply crunch in Colorado and the company's latest petition to the PUC states that allowing Comanche 2 to continue operating "is imperative to ensure the Company has a reliable electric generating system for the next 18-24 months," according to a filing from Xcel Vice President Michael V. Pascucci.

Colorado Public Radio reports that several new power projects that Xcel was expecting to come online have been delayed or outright cancelled for a number of reasons. Industrial Info Resources data show more than $3 billion worth of power generation projects in Colorado that originally were planned to come online in 2025 or 2026 that have been cancelled or placed on hold, primarily consisting of renewable energy and battery storage projects.

Other Delayed Coal Retirements

The further life extension of Comanche 2 wouldn't make it the only Colorado coal-fired unit running past its planned retirement date. On December 30, 2025, the day before its planned retirement, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered the coal-fired Unit 1 at the Craig power station in Moffat County to continue running through March. The DOE then ordered to plant to stay open through June, and could very well extend the stay-open order again later this month. The unit is owned by Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which along with consumer and environmental groups has expressed concern about who exactly is expected to foot the bill for the plant's extended operations, which the company says could be up to $80 million a year.

In addition to the Craig plant, the DOE has issued stay-open orders for other U.S. coal-fired plants, including units at:

• TransAlta's Centralia generating station in Washington.
• The J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan, which planned to retire three units that now remain operating.
• Northern Indiana Public Service Company's R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Indiana.

In addition, units 3 and 4 at an aging oil- and gas-fired power plant that Constellation Energy planned to retire in Pennsylvania have remained operating under DOE orders.

Key Takeaways

• Xcel has petitioned the Colorado PUC to keep the 50-year-old Unit 2 at its Comanche plant in Pueblo operating through March 2028.
• The unit originally was planned to retire at the end of 2025, but was granted one-year life extension from state authorities.
• Another Colorado coal-fired unit, Craig 1 in Moffat County, remains operating past its planned retirement due to DOE orders.

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