Xcel Presses Forward with Planned T&D, Renewable Investments

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the face of unwieldy weather, a potential trade war, rising maintenance expenses and growing uncertainty around renewable energy, Xcel Energy Incorporated (NASDAQ:XEL) (Minneapolis, Minnesota) is standing by its $45 billion, five-year capital-spending plan, which includes significant investments in transmission and distribution (T&D) improvements and renewably sourced generation. Industrial Info is tracking more than $16 billion worth of active and proposed projects from Xcel, more than $3.25 billion of which are nearing or under construction.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing Xcel's active and proposed projects, by type.

The bulk of Xcel's total investment--nearly $9 billion--is attributed to T&D projects across its service territory, which includes Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Two such projects are set to wrap up later this year: a $30 million upgrade of a line from Alamosa to La Jara, Colorado, which runs 20 miles, and a $15 million upgrade of a line from La Jara to Antonito, Colorado, which runs eight miles.

Both projects are part of the Alamosa-Antonito transmission line upgrade program, which aims to replace aging, 69-kilovolt (kV) line with 115-kV line. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can read detailed reports on the Alamosa-to-La Jara and La Jara-to-Antonito projects.

Xcel maintains an advantage in its eight-state service area to deliver low-cost energy from renewable sources, Chief Executive Officer Bob Frenzel said in a quarterly earnings-related conference call: "Those are very valuable asset classes for our customers. They're very important for our hyperscale and data center customers, who are trying to have their own sustainability goals, and we think that persists. We've been clear that we're going to continue to focus, and achieve our 80% carbon reduction, by the end of the decade."

Frenzel said Xcel has cut carbon emissions 57% relative to 2005, and it remains on track to reach an 80% carbon reduction by 2030.

Later this year, Xcel expects to finish construction on a $340 million expansion of its Sherco Solar Plant in Becker, Minnesota, which will add 230 megawatts (MW) of capacity via photovoltaic (PV) panels provided by JA Solar Holdings (Beijing, China). When complete, Sherco's total 710-MW capacity will make it the largest solar facility in the Upper Midwest, according to Xcel; its customers will include multiple data centers on and around the site. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Nonetheless, Frenzel acknowledged natural gas will be needed to meet its long-term goals: "We've been clear, since we made that announcement, that we need dispatchable resources to support that. So, gas has a real role to play in our active resource plans right now; we've got [combustion turbine] builds in the Upper Midwest, in Colorado and in the Southwest."

Xcel subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado (Denver, Colorado) is proposing a coal-to-gas conversion at its Pawnee Power Station in Brush, Colorado, which would alter a 500-MW, opposed-fired dry-bottom boiler to burn natural gas. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Frenzel also noted that progress continues on Xcel's Colorado Power Pathway project, which is designed to provide rural Colorado with better access to the power grid. Five segments of the massive transmission line are nearing or under construction, including:

• a 75-mile segment from Platteville to Brush; see project report
• a 160-mile segment from Brush to Cheyenne Wells; see project report
• a 65-mile segment from Cheyenne Wells to Eads; see project report
• a 140-mile segment from Eads to Pueblo; see project report
• a 120-mile segment from Pueblo to Aurora; see project report

For a full list of detailed reports for projects associated with Colorado Power Pathway, including new substations, subscribers can click here.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed reports for active and proposed projects from Xcel.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).