By Paul Baker

DENVER - August has been a month of headline-making news for Xcel Energy and the utility giant may have saved the most important for last. Following two days worth of discussions last week, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) backed the power company’s voluntary decision to close two coal-fired plants at Denver and Grand Junction, making Xcel the first utility in the U.S. to make such a move solely in an effort to reduce emissions.

A written order offering specific details of the decision isexpected within a few weeks.

The two plants slated for closure within two to four years are
coal units at the Arapahoe power plant in Denver, near Santa Fe
Drive and Evans Avenue, and the Cameo plant in Grand Junction.
Xcel says it will use natural gas to make up for the lost power
supplies.

CPUC also approved Xcel plans to build a new 200 MW solar power
plant with energy storage capacity, and granted permission for
the company to add 850 MW of intermittent renewable energy,
such as wind power. Although Xcel haven’t yet invited bids from
contractors to build the solar and wind plants, spokesman Mark
Stutz has said, “we look forward to those additions to our
system by 2015.”

Xcel’s move comes in response to state laws requiring large
utilities to generate 20% of their electricity from solar, wind
or biomass sources by 2020. Xcel seems to be on track to meet
the target with several years to spare.

“In reaching the decision the commission was trying to move
Xcel Energy toward carbon reduction goals that Gov. Ritter has
outlined in his climate action plan,” PUC spokesman Terry Bote
said Wednesday. “Also, they were adding renewable-energy
resources in a cost-effective, technically feasible manner,
ensuring an adequate supply of electricity in the future and
being respectful of the cost that consumers have to bear,” he
said.

Xcel spokesman, Mark Stutz, said the company was pleased that
“the commission has agreed with our proposal to close two of
our power plants, as we continually move toward reducing our
carbon dioxide emissions in Colorado.”

“Gov. Ritter last year called for a 20 percent reduction in
carbon-dioxide emission by 2020. These closures will reduce our
emissions by 1.4 million tons a year and put us well on the way
toward meeting the governor’s goal,” Stutz said.

The two plants that Xcel would be closing generates a combined
229 megawatts of electricity. The utility proposes replacing
the coal-fired generators at Denver’s Arapahoe power plant with
natural gas-powered units that can generate 480 megawatts of
power. A decision on that plant, however, has been postponed.

Keith Hay, spokesman for Environment Colorado, an advocacy
group, spoke positively about the plan.

“The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has set a clear path
for Colorado’s energy future,” he told reporters. “Colorado
will be a leader in clean, renewable energy, and we’ll close
down coal-fired power plants and replace that energy with
renewable resources.

“We need to look at renewable resources first, and we need to
get off of expensive and environmentally costly fossil-fuel
resources. Solar is a better investment today and will be a
better investment for tomorrow to supply energy for Colorado,”
Hay said.