Xcel's Southwestern Public Service coal mix rises to 22.3% in January: filing

Houston — Southwestern Public Service Company's coal generation mix rose to 22.3% in January, while its natural gas/oil mix fell to 10.5%, a state regulatory filing showed March 15.

The utility, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, said to the Public Utility Commission of Texas it burned over $8.83 million worth of Powder River Basin coal in January at its 1,018-MW Harrington coal-fired power plant in Amarillo and its 1,067-MW Tolk Station in Muleshoe, down from $9.6 million worth of coal burned in December, which made up 22% of the generation mix. Gas had a generation share of 10.9% in December.

In the year-ago month, the utility burned $4.82 million worth of coal at a 20.4% capacity factor, resulting in a 12.8% generation mix.

The two coal plants generated 501,917 MWh of power in January, or 5.49 Bcf, while operating at a 32.4% capacity factor. The company's six gas/oil plants generated 236,674 MWh of power, or 2.6 Bcf, at a 13.5% capacity factor.

On a cost per MMBtu basis, the coal plants were at $1.61/MMBtu in January, and the gas plants were at $2.88/MMBtu, while the average dispatch price for coal was $17.60/MWh, compared with $31.64/MWh for gas/oil. Coal's dispatch price was $17.31/MWh in December and $15.28/MWh in January 2020.

In January, Southwestern Public Service bought 304,146 st of 8,825 Btu/lb coal from Tuco, Inc., a coal supplier, up from 221,803 st in December and 200,372 st in the year-ago month. About 277,436 st of coal went to the Harrington plant in January, while 26,710 st went to the Tolk Station.

On a MMBtu basis, the company bought over 5.41 Bcf of coal in January, while gas purchases totaled 2.67 Bcf.

In 2020, Southwestern Public Service Company took delivery of 2.95 million st of 8,882 Btu/lb PRB coal at an average delivered cost of $30.21/st, down from 4.03 million st at $30.32/st in 2019, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

The Harrington plant took delivery of 1.95 million st at an average price of $28.31/st, while 992,903 st was shipped to the Tolk Station at $32.54/st.

About 72.4% of the coal supplied by Tuco, came from the North Antelope Rochelle mine, while the remaining 27.6% was from the Black Thunder mine, which are both located in Campbell County, Wyoming, according to the data.

Southwestern Public Service Company serves 400,000 electric customers in Texas and New Mexico.