Xcel Energy Inc. agreed to further accelerate the retirement of unit 3 at the 1,426-MW Comanche coal-fired power plant in Pueblo County, Colo., moving the date from 2034 to 2031.
Xcel Energy subsidiary Public Service Co. of Colorado, which operates as Xcel Energy-Colorado, will retire the unit by Jan. 1, 2031, under an updated settlement filed April 26 with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (docket 21A-0141E). The exact retirement date of the unit, which has a nameplate capacity of 856.8 MW, will be set under a Just Transition Plan that Xcel Energy must submit no later than June 1, 2024.
By 2030, the plan will deliver more than 80% of customers' energy needs from renewable resources and reduce carbon emissions by at least 85% from 2005 levels, exceeding state targets, Xcel Energy said in an April 26 news release.
The agreement was reached with the PUC staff, the Colorado Energy Office, the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, several unions, municipalities, the Colorado Solar and Storage Association, Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other intervenors.
In a November 2021 settlement filed with state regulators as part of the company's electric resource plan, Xcel Energy agreed to move up the retirement date of Comanche unit 3 to Dec. 31, 2034. The utility originally proposed retiring unit 3 by 2040, decades ahead of its useful lifespan.
Under the updated settlement, operations of Unit 3 would progressively decline beginning in 2025 to a level not exceeding 33% of its annual capacity factor in 2029.
The agreement also stipulates that Xcel Energy operate its system in Colorado "in a manner that achieves, at a minimum, a 50% carbon dioxide emissions reduction from 2005 levels in 2024 and a 65% carbon dioxide emissions reduction from 2005 levels in 2027."
The company will retire unit 2 at the 441-MW Hayden coal plant by the end of 2027 and unit 1 in 2028 as part of its transition from coal in Colorado. In addition, the company will convert the 505-MW Pawnee Generating Station to natural gas by 2026 and explore a faster timeline under the revised agreement.
The utility's resource additions through 2030 will be determined through a competitive bid process, but Xcel Energy-Colorado expects to add about 2,400 MW of wind, 1,600 MW of large-scale solar, 400 MW of energy storage, 1,300 MW of firm dispatchable resources and 1,200 MW of distributed solar.
"Coloradans asked for a faster transition off coal and Xcel finally listened," Anna McDevitt, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, said in an April 26 news release. "This proposal gets us much closer to a coal-free Colorado by the end of this decade, and that's a big deal for our state's families and businesses who depend on clean, affordable, and reliable electricity."
Xcel Energy in 2018 was the first utility in the U.S. to announce a goal to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050 with an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, based off 2005 levels.
The Comanche plant began service in 1973 and added unit 2 in 1975, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. CORE Electric Cooperative owns a 25% interest in unit 3 and Holy Cross Electric Association Inc., a signatory to the agreement, owns an 8% interest.
Unit 3, which began operating in 2010, was knocked out of service in late January following a problem with a transmission breaker.
Comanche unit 1 is set to retire in December 2022, followed by unit 2 in December 2025.
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