Xcel's Proposal Guesses that the Future Will Look Like the Past

What will happen to the need for transmission lines by 2024? 

The energy industry is not what it was 10 years ago. Think how far we've come. Where were LED bulbs in 2004? Electric cars? Wind power? Solar power? Entrepreneurs and innovative companies have reinvented the world of electric power seemingly overnight with dramatic efficiency improvements, new and improved products, increased supplies of natural gas and with wind and solar resources blossoming across the west thanks to government support and technological advances and economies. And we seem to be transforming energy generation at a faster and faster clip.

So why would you plan a project that won't be needed until 2024 based on today's market and technology?

Xcel's current proposal for Colorado transmission lines and new generation between Pawnee Station and Daniels Park does just that. Even according to the company, the generation and transmission will not be needed (under current projections) until 2024, but the company wants to get it built in the next several years. Why? What's the hurry? It surely won't take that long to get it done--the company wants it up, running and raising your rates by 2019. (Interestingly, a group of large companies opposes this project because among other reasons they think it is premature.)

Is the project being hurried along because Xcel wants to lock in the $178-230 million project (and its guaranteed returns) before the energy revolution we're seeing makes such a project obsolete and the increased consumer rates unnecessary?

What would happen to forecasted demand for new transmission lines if communities up and down the front range installed solar gardens and generated energy right where it was needed?

Far fetched in 2004. Yes, undoubtedly! Far fetched in 2014? Not so much according to the Mark Jaffe's Denver Post article (September 7, 2014) on just that topic:

The main driver in Colorado has been Xcel Energy's Solar Rewards Community program, which created 25 solar-garden projects with a total of 18 megawatts in the past two years.

...Solar gardens are easy to connect to the grid, and kilowatt-hours put on the grid get a credit that is negotiated with the utility.

"Utilities generally like community solar rather than rooftop solar," said SunShare's [Jonathan] Postal.

"Operationally, it is a very clean process," said Xcel's [Lee] Gabler.

Still, the Colorado solar industry is banging up against Xcel's program.

"Clearly, there is tremendous demand," said Rebecca Cantwell, director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group.

"This is a program that should be expanded."

Had you heard of solar gardens in 2004, just 10 years ago? We hadn't. What haven't you heard about in 2014 that will be viable in 2024? We can't even imagine the possibilities.

Here's hoping the PUC, even before the next decade's technological advances come into focus, will send Xcel home to rethink this project and requires the company to expand its solar garden program.