Xcel's Southwestern Public Service coal mix jumps to 18.3% in May: filing

Houston — Southwestern Public Service Company's coal generation mix jumped to 18.3% in May, while its natural gas/oil mix dropped to 16.6%, according to a regulatory filing published July 13.

The utility, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, told the Public Utility Commission of Texas it burned over $7.41 million worth of Powder River Basin coal in May at its 1,018-MW Harrington coal-fired power plant in Amarillo and its 1,067-MW Tolk Station in Muleshoe, up from $3.79 million worth of coal burned in April, which made up 8.8% of the generation mix.

In the year-ago month, the utility burned nearly $7.42 million worth of coal at a 25.3% capacity factor, resulting in an 18% generation mix.

The two plants generated 400,736 MWh of power in May, or 4.26 million MMBtu, while operating at a 25.8% capacity factor. The company's six gas/oil plants generated 363,310 MWh of power, or 4.19 million MMBtu, at a 20.7% capacity factor.

On a cost per MMBtu basis, the coal plants were at $1.74/MMBtu in May, while the gas plants were at $1.81/MMBtu, while the average dispatch price for coal was $18.50/MWh, compared with $20.87/MWh for gas/oil. Coal's dispatch price was $20.06/MWh in April and $18.92/MWh in May 2019.

In May, Southwestern Public Service bought 234,424 st of 8,825 Btu/lb coal from Tuco Inc., a coal supplier, compared with 121,996 st in April and 245,110 st in the year-ago month. About 114,064 st of coal went to the Harrington plant in May, while the remaining 120,360 st went to the Tolk Station.

On an MMBtu basis, the company bought over 4.15 million MMBtu of coal in May, while gas purchases totaled 4.29 million MMBtu.

In 2019, Southwestern Public Service bought 4.03 million st of 8,875 Btu/lb PRB coal at an average delivered cost of $30.32/st, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. The Harrington plant took delivery of 2.36 million st at an average price of $28.35/st, while 1.67 million st was shipped to the Tolk Station at $32.29/st.

About 86% of the coal supplied by Tuco, came from the Black Thunder mine, while the remaining 14% was from the North Antelope Rochelle 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.