Repoerted by Staff

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc. said Monday its Colorado unit will buy two gas-fired power plants near Denver from wholesale power supplier, Calpine Corp. of Houston, for $739 million.  The utility already purchases power from the Calpine facilities.

Xcel said its Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) unit plans to buy the 621-megawatt Rocky Mountain Energy Center, near Hudson and the 310-megawatt Blue Spruce Energy Center in the Denver
suburb of Aurora. The planned purchases are subject
to regulatory approval from the Colorado PUC.

 Xcel said the 931 MW of electricity produced by the two plants is enough to supply 700,000 homes. Both are relatively new, with the “combined cycle” Hudson plant came online in 2005 and the Aurora “simple-cycle” plant a year earlier.

“This agreement will be good for our customers because these assets, which are already an integral part of our system, will continue to provide reliable and reasonably priced energy for many years,” David Eves, PSCo’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Knowing that these plants will be part of our long-term generation mix will also help us to more effectively manage system reliability as we strive to meet the state’s newly increased renewable energy standard,” Eves added.

Just last month Governor Ritter signed a new law which stipulates Xcel must generate 30 percent of its power from renewable-energy sources by 2020 — one of the highest standards in the nation.

The power plant purchases are part of Xcel’s plan for meeting Colorado’s power needs through 2015, as outlined in its 2007 Colorado Resource Plan.