DENVER (Dec. 17, 2024) – Today, Xcel Energy-Colorado filed its 2024 Distribution System Plan (DSP) with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC). This proposal builds out a grid that will enable more electric use by homes, businesses, and vehicles utilizing distributed energy generation and storage, while also delivering enhanced reliability, resiliency and safety benefits.
The electric distribution system in Colorado requires significant infrastructure updates to serve an historic shift in electric use driven by customer needs and opportunities. To accomplish this, the plan’s vision is to transform Colorado’s energy grid into a highly integrated energy system critical to enabling economy-wide decarbonization and electrification.
“The projects in this plan reimagine a grid that can proactively meet the rapidly evolving electrification expectations and needs of our customers and communities – today and in the future – in a safe, reliable, affordable and equitable manner,” says Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado.
“Our goal is to add enough distribution system capacity so our grid will allow us to quickly accommodate new electric use on the grid and guarantees customers have power where and when they need it.”
The plan will help to ensure that the distribution system is ready to meet the needs of the future by adding approximately 3.1 gigawatts of new capacity, enough to serve nearly 500,000 homes, to the distribution system, along with 100 new or replaced distribution substation transformers, 36 substations and more than 300 new feeder lines by 2029. This is a critical step to right-size and modernize the system that delivers power directly to customers. In addition to adding capacity, Xcel Energy proposes investments to replace equipment nearing the end of its lifecycle.
Customers are driving this need by rapidly embracing electric technologies, like electric vehicles, electric heat pumps, distributed storage and rooftop solar. For example, Xcel Energy anticipates over 400,000 EVs and potentially 300,000 new heat pumps on the system by 2029. Preparing for this customer demand requires energy providers to rethink how to plan and maintain the grid, and the DSP identifies the system’s short- and long-term needs.
“Xcel Energy’s plan is a first-in-the-nation approach to grid planning led by empowering customer choice and leveraging distributed resources,” adds Kenney. “This forward-looking and transparent approach to planning will eventually incorporate other essential technologies, like virtual power plants and demand side management tools, to achieve a carbon-free energy future by 2050 while minimizing the need for future construction projects and keeping costs low for customers.”
This proposed plan supports the goals contained in “Powering Up Colorado” (SB24-218), signed into law in May 2024. The law requires a suite of policy changes aimed at modernizing the local electric grid, ensuring proactive investments and fostering the adoption of clean energy technologies.
“SB24-218 brought forward important workforce planning requirements to help build the workforce of the future. Today’s filing is a very important first step by Xcel Energy to achieve an actionable workforce plan and we look forward to continuing to work with them to refine and improve it,” says Nate Gutierrez, business manager of IBEW, Local 111.
“This filing from our partners at Xcel Energy is critical to economic development and to our mission of attracting primary employers to Aurora,” said Wendy Mitchell, president and CEO of the Aurora Economic Development Council. “Increasing the power capacity will also increase the competitiveness of Colorado. We are supportive of this filing by Xcel Energy, and we applaud their innovative approach to meet the growing consumer demands. We believe this proactive approach will strengthen our economy and make Colorado more attractive to primary employers.”
The distribution system plan, alongside the Wildfire Mitigation Plan the company proposed in June 2024, proposes to invest a combined $7.5 billion over five years into the distribution system to reliably serve customers’ changing electricity needs and support the company’s clean energy goals. The plan complements other Xcel Energy regulatory proposals to build a safer, more resilient, clean and affordable energy system including the Clean Heat Plan, Transportation Electrification Plan, Wildfire Mitigation Plan, Demand Side Management/Beneficial Electrification Plan and others.
This proposal is part of Xcel Energy’s companywide five-year investment plan announced in October. A substantial portion of this investment will be in Colorado as the company continues to take steps to advance the state’s ambitious clean energy and electrification goals, build and maintain energy infrastructure to withstand severe weather events and deliver safe, reliable and trusted service while keeping bills as low as possible.
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About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook.