Xcel Energy Wants to Accelerate $3 Billion Spend

Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Xcel Energy Incorporated (NASDAQ:XEL) (Minneapolis, Minnesota) last month submitted a plan to Minnesota utility regulators to accelerate about $2.9 billion in planned capital expenditures, mostly for renewable energy projects, to support an economic recovery for Minnesota. The company's total planed spend in Minnesota is about $3 billion, which includes increased outlays for conservation and energy-efficiency projects.

"COVID-19 put the brakes on our economy, leading to widespread unemployment. We are eager to help Minnesota with our proposal that can help provide the economic jump start our state needs," Ben Fowke, chairman and chief executive at Xcel Energy, said in a statement. "We thank Governor Tim Walz, our regulators and commissioners for the leadership on this issue and remain committed to working with them along with our, communities, policymakers, stakeholders and employees to move these projects forward quickly to help all Minnesotans."

In a June 17 regulatory filing with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Xcel Energy sought commissioners' approval to make investments in a variety of resiliency projects, clean-energy projects and projects that will keep customer bills low.

"All of the proposed projects are investments we would have made or proposed at some point in the future," the utility said in its filing. "This proposal merely advances these investments to a time when they will benefit the state and community even more through needed job creation and economic activity."

Xcel Energy has been investing heavily in renewable energy across its eight-state service area. For more on that, see: August 19, 2019, article - Xcel Energy Makes Moves to Decarbonize Fleet; July 3, 2018, article - Xcel Energy Eyes $2.5 Billion in Colorado Power Projects; January 24, 2018, article - Greener and Greener: Xcel Energy Wind Projects Move Forward in Southwest; and May 25, 2017, article - Xcel Energy to Spend Billions on New Wind Projects.

In Minnesota alone, the company estimated it has created or will create about 2,000 jobs with the renewable energy, transmission, and advanced grid projects that are currently underway or will be soon.

The projects contained in its June 17 filing would create an additional 3,000 direct new jobs as well as an additional 8,200 indirect jobs over the next five years. Moving forward with all of these projects being considered by Minnesota regulators would cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 500,000 tons per year, on average.

Specifically, Xcel Energy's Minnesota unit is seeking approval to:

• Build up to 460 megawatts (MW) of solar power at its Sherco Station. The solar project has total investment value (TIV) of about $650 million, the utility estimated. This request also includes a separate $19 million project to build a 10-MW battery energy storage system at that site. Xcel Energy proposes to build both projects between 2023 and 2025.
• Invest up to $1.2 billion to repower wind generation, both stations owned by the utility and other stations that sell Xcel Energy power under a purchased power agreement (PPA). If approved by the regulators, the utility plans to issue a request for proposals during the third quarter of this year.
• Invest about $181 million in transmission projects.
• Move forward with 13 discrete and scalable distribution projects valued at up to $613 million that would increase the electric system's resilience.
• Invest about $51 million in gas infrastructure projects that improve system reliability and public safety.
• Invest between $120 million and $170 million in four electric vehicle infrastructure projects.
• Accelerate the dismantling, demolition and site remediation planned for several retired generating units, including Blue Lake Units 1 through 4, Granite City, Key City, Minnesota Valley, and Riverside Units 6 through 8. This cluster of work will also include asbestos abatement at the Riverside plant and the closure of Ash Pond 1 at Sherco. Most of the work proposed was scheduled to take place in 2024 and later. The work is valued at about $41 million.

The nearly $3 billion of potential accelerated investments does not count projects the utility either has already begun or was planning to do, explained Matt Lindstrom, an Xcel Energy spokesman. These projects include plans to build new renewable generation, including the Blazing Star, Crowned Ridge I and II, Dakota Range I, II and III and Freeborn plants, as well as plans to repower certain renewable energy plants, either owned by Xcel Energy or from which the utility buys power under a PPA. These plants include the Community Wind North, Jeffers Wind Energy Center, Mower County Wind Energy Center and Deuel Harvest Windfarm. Lindstrom could not provide a dollar value estimate of this work.

"Xcel Energy is proud to be part of the Minnesota community, and we are committed to helping our customers and our state recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said in an emailed statement. "We are uniquely positioned to help accelerate economic recovery in Minnesota by providing immediate relief to customers and facilitating job growth while keeping bills low and speeding our clean energy transition."

Industrial Info is tracking 39 active projects being developed by Xcel Energy in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions valued at about $2.4 billion. These projects include natural gas power plants, windsfarms, transmission and distribution projects, environmental remediation projects and nuclear refueling projects.

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