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The three-member Colorado Public Utilities Commission will begin hearing testimony next month in Xcel Energy’s plans to mothball its Cameo coal-fired power plant.
Final decisions are months away, said Xcel Energy Spokesman Fred Eggleston.
“It’s not an economic decision,” but instead, it’s based on reducing Xcel’s a carbon footprint, said Commissioner Craig Meis. “That’s scary, when you’re a ratepayer. That should scare those on fixed income.
“When the rates they’re paying isn’t as important as the environment,” Meis said.
“That seems counterintuitive,” decreasing supplies, when demand continues to increase.
Meis called the plan the “first action to mothball facilities for environmental considerations. This is a totally new world.”
The energy company is now conducting studies to determine the details of shutting down Cameo, what the impact will be to the transmission system and what to do with the 1,200 acres at Cameo, said Eggleston.
The 30 or so people working at Cameo will likely be absorbed into other positions within the company, Eggleston said.
In its plan, Xcel wants to lower its impact on the environment while maintaining capacity to meet the needs of Colorado electrical users through 2015. It wants to reduce inefficiencies, said Xcel spokesman Tom Henley.
The company said it wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels by 2017. That should contribute to Gov. Bill Ritter’s goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
The plan also calls for Xcel to increase wind power, solar power, pursue power through customer-owned solar, and increase energy efficiencies. Its goal is to generate 20 percent of its power through renewable resources by 2015.
The plan also calls to retrofit the Arapahoe coal-fired generating plant to a cleaner source, natural gas.
The Cameo plant generates 75 megawatts of power, enough power to generate 75,000 homes, said Eggleston.
The company sees Cameo as a “valuable resource from a generation standpoint,” Eggleston said, idling the plant, and possibly starting it up again it later, when electricity is needed.
It will be at least a year before the process is completed, Eggleston said. If the decision to close Cameo is eventually approved by the PUC, it would be a while before the plant stops generating power, Eggleston said.
“We’re at least a year from deciding what we will do,” Eggleston said.
The next step in the process is rebuttal and cross-answer testimony. Xcel and other intervenors can file rebuttal comments, due June 9, said Terry Bote, spokesman for the PUC. Hearings begin in Denver June 23 at Xcel’s technical services building, 550 15th Street, Room 19. The hearings will be Web-cast, but the Web address is yet to be determined, Bote said.
The hearings last three weeks, ending July 11, Bote said.
After the hearings, the PUC will schedule a deliberation, where the three members will deliberate in public. That proceeding will also be Web-cast.
The decision on the plan is likely to come by the end of August, Bote said.
The town of Palisade is one of 27 intervenors.
Meis said the county is not an intervenor, because “that’s why the PUC exists — to represent the ratepayer, to make sure the consumer doesn’t get gouged.”
Many entities intervene simply to monitor progress on the application, said Bote. Some gain intervenor status to oppose the proposal, he said.
Others intervenors, as provided by the PUC include Ratepayers United of Colorado, Western Resource Advocates, Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association, Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel, Governor’s Energy Office, Black Hills Energy, Interwest Energy Alliance, Holy Cross Electric Association, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, Aquila, Inc., Iberdrola, Intermountain Rural Electric Association, Colorado Mining Association.
Also, Colorado Independent Energy Association, CF&I Steel/Climax, TransElect/ Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, Colorado Energy Consumers Group, High Plains Energy, PUC staff, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Farmers Union /Colorado Working Landscapes, Leslie Glustrom, Nancy LaPlaca, Sol Shapiro, American Clean Skies Foundation.
Reach Marija B. Vader at mvader@gjfreepress.com.
Final decisions are months away, said Xcel Energy Spokesman Fred Eggleston.
“It’s not an economic decision,” but instead, it’s based on reducing Xcel’s a carbon footprint, said Commissioner Craig Meis. “That’s scary, when you’re a ratepayer. That should scare those on fixed income.
“When the rates they’re paying isn’t as important as the environment,” Meis said.
“That seems counterintuitive,” decreasing supplies, when demand continues to increase.
Meis called the plan the “first action to mothball facilities for environmental considerations. This is a totally new world.”
The energy company is now conducting studies to determine the details of shutting down Cameo, what the impact will be to the transmission system and what to do with the 1,200 acres at Cameo, said Eggleston.
The 30 or so people working at Cameo will likely be absorbed into other positions within the company, Eggleston said.
In its plan, Xcel wants to lower its impact on the environment while maintaining capacity to meet the needs of Colorado electrical users through 2015. It wants to reduce inefficiencies, said Xcel spokesman Tom Henley.
The company said it wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels by 2017. That should contribute to Gov. Bill Ritter’s goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
The plan also calls for Xcel to increase wind power, solar power, pursue power through customer-owned solar, and increase energy efficiencies. Its goal is to generate 20 percent of its power through renewable resources by 2015.
The plan also calls to retrofit the Arapahoe coal-fired generating plant to a cleaner source, natural gas.
The Cameo plant generates 75 megawatts of power, enough power to generate 75,000 homes, said Eggleston.
The company sees Cameo as a “valuable resource from a generation standpoint,” Eggleston said, idling the plant, and possibly starting it up again it later, when electricity is needed.
It will be at least a year before the process is completed, Eggleston said. If the decision to close Cameo is eventually approved by the PUC, it would be a while before the plant stops generating power, Eggleston said.
“We’re at least a year from deciding what we will do,” Eggleston said.
The next step in the process is rebuttal and cross-answer testimony. Xcel and other intervenors can file rebuttal comments, due June 9, said Terry Bote, spokesman for the PUC. Hearings begin in Denver June 23 at Xcel’s technical services building, 550 15th Street, Room 19. The hearings will be Web-cast, but the Web address is yet to be determined, Bote said.
The hearings last three weeks, ending July 11, Bote said.
After the hearings, the PUC will schedule a deliberation, where the three members will deliberate in public. That proceeding will also be Web-cast.
The decision on the plan is likely to come by the end of August, Bote said.
The town of Palisade is one of 27 intervenors.
Meis said the county is not an intervenor, because “that’s why the PUC exists — to represent the ratepayer, to make sure the consumer doesn’t get gouged.”
Many entities intervene simply to monitor progress on the application, said Bote. Some gain intervenor status to oppose the proposal, he said.
Others intervenors, as provided by the PUC include Ratepayers United of Colorado, Western Resource Advocates, Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association, Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel, Governor’s Energy Office, Black Hills Energy, Interwest Energy Alliance, Holy Cross Electric Association, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, Aquila, Inc., Iberdrola, Intermountain Rural Electric Association, Colorado Mining Association.
Also, Colorado Independent Energy Association, CF&I Steel/Climax, TransElect/ Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, Colorado Energy Consumers Group, High Plains Energy, PUC staff, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Farmers Union /Colorado Working Landscapes, Leslie Glustrom, Nancy LaPlaca, Sol Shapiro, American Clean Skies Foundation.
Reach Marija B. Vader at mvader@gjfreepress.com.
