A think tank’s suggestion of an all renewable “energy park” is the latest idea for replacing Xcel Energy’s last coal plant in Colorado.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is holding meetings virtually and in communities that will be affected by Xcel Energy’s plan to shut all its coal plants in the state by the end of 2030. The PUC traveled to Pueblo last week, listened to comments Monday during a Zoom session and will visit Hayden on Thursday.
The PUC is expected to open a hearing on Xcel’s plan in June.
What Xcel Energy calls its just transition plan for communities includes replacing coal plants with wind and solar power, battery storage and natural gas facilities. Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, plans to end its use of the coal plant in Hayden in 2028 and the last of three units at the Comanche Generating Station near Pueblo by 2031.
Colorado power companies as well as communities across the state have cut back the use of coal and other fossil fuels to strive to meet goals for curtailing greenhouse gas emissions.
Xcel’s plan has been praised for what would be a significant expansion of renewable energy in the utility’s portfolio. And it’s been panned for proposing new gas generation.
An advisory committee organized by Xcel has recommended that the coal units at the Comanche site be replaced with modular nuclear units or a gas plant that would capture the carbon dioxide emissions.
Another proposal that has gained recent support is one by Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based energy and climate think tank. The organization looked at Pueblo as a case study and recommended an “energy park” in the area that would combine solar and wind power and battery storage, including thermal batteries that can convert electricity to heat for direct use in industrial processes.
Pueblo County Commissioner Miles Lucero told the PUC during the hearing in Pueblo that he has heard from many residents that they want a clean energy future. “In that spirit, I believe the Pueblo Renewable Energy Park represents a practical near-term step for addressing our generation needs.”
Michelle Solomon, co-author of Energy Innovation’s study, said Pueblo seemed like a good fit for the park concept. “We’ve been exploring the idea of combining industry and energy generation in a single location to take advantage of way industry can use excess renewable energy to balance out production.”
Energy Innovation believes the concept has the potential to generate jobs and tax revenue from developing an energy/industrial site, said Solomon, who is based in Gunnison.
Pueblo residents, government and business leaders warn that the closure of the last unit at the Comanche coal plant will be a major blow to the area’s economy. A report by the Pueblo Innovative Energy Solutions Advisory Committee, which recommended replacing the coal plant with modular nuclear reactors, said Xcel pays more than $25 million a year to Pueblo County. Most of the revenue comes from Comanche Station.
A report by Michael Wakefield, a professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo, said the coal facility generates roughly $196 million in economic benefits annually.
“Of all of the technologies that we studied, only advanced nuclear generation will make Pueblo whole and also provide a path to prosperity,” the advisory committee’s report said.
However, critics of building nuclear reactors have concerns about the waste and the consequences if the reactors fail. Others say the smaller reactors, billed as more advanced than older, larger plants, aren’t ready for commercial use.
“At scale of any sort, it’s going to be 2035 before we have any kind of small modular reactor fleet,” said Dennis Wamsted, an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
One company has been licensed to produce modular reactors in the U.S., but none are operating. Wamsted co-wrote an analysis that said reactors built or under construction in other countries have run 300% to 600% over budget.
Energy Innovation said its modeling shows that a renewable energy park could produce more than $40 million in annual property taxes for Pueblo County and create more than 350 permanent jobs. Solomon said the study used the Colorado state assessed renewable tax factor template for the renewable projects.
For estimating the number of jobs, the organization reviewed reports by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Rhodium Group, a research organization. The study on the energy park recommends including electrolysis, which uses electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen to produce ammonia for fertilizer and aviation fuel.