Xcel Energy currently has a $155 million project proposal affecting numerous parts of western Colorado, including Breckenridge, that will be considered by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for approval.

Breckenridge elected officials interfaced with an Xcel Energy manager of community and governmental affairs, Blair McGary, at a June 10 meeting and expressed approval to grant a request for one of the energy provider’s temporary solutions that is part of its long-term plans to address severe natural gas constraints in the area. Officials also touched on the relationship between the two groups.

Xcel’s Mountain Energy Project is largely a response to severe natural gas constraints at the Marshal Compressor Station in Boulder County that pushes gas up to Summit and Grand counties through the Eastern Mountain Gas System. The proposal submitted states that “there are supply shortfalls at the transmission system tails ends in Breckenridge, Keystone and Grand Lake.”

McGary said Breckenridge’s location being “at the end of the line of the Eastern Mountain Gas System” can cause it to take hits when there’s a drop in pressure in the gas system, referencing the rolling blackouts that plagued Summit County in February 2019. 

While the energy provider claims the Mountain Energy Project is the largest non-pipeline alternative portfolio currently out there, plans don’t exclude the usage of natural gas as stop-gap solutions. Breckenridge showed support toward signing off on an agreement for a stop-gap solution during the June 11 meeting.

The project calls for natural gas injection sites in Breckenridge and Keystone because the towns’ locations are at the tail ends of systems experiencing supply shortfalls. McGary said Xcel has been “aggressively looking” for a site for a 10-year facility in Breckenridge and is even in talks with private landowners. 

“We are trying to prevent bringing a larger pipeline into town, another pipeline,” she said, noting the gas site would be used to prevent outages when there are drops in pressure in the Eastern Mountain Gas System. 

Since no site has been found yet, she brought the request to Breckenridge. 

Breckenridge houses a temporary liquid natural gas site on Gateway Drive. Per federal regulations, Xcel Energy, with the town’s permission, can utilize the site for one more year. Xcel asked the town for an extension to keep using the liquid natural gas project on the site, and the town expects to receive $37,500 as payment for the licensing agreement. 

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While McGary went on to explain the intentions of the project and site proposal further, Mayor Kelly Owens stopped her, citing the fact the town is an intervening party in the project’s approval process at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

In February, the Mountain Community Coalition formed in an effort officials said was to protect the interest of their constituents. It was partially prompted by the proposal for the two gas injection sites and worries over costs associated with making the transition toward non-pipeline alternatives falling on Xcel Energy customers in Summit County. 

“Infrastructure like that is going to be incredibly expensive, and it’s only likely to be necessary for 10 years,” Owen said of the liquid natural gas site. 

“That’s why staff is very supportive of this temporary site because that really is what we want to do — is temporarily get the community through this while we’re trying to continue to pursue other alternative energy types,” she added. 

Council member Jay Beckerman pressed McGary about the relationship between the town and the energy provider.

“It comes across … that the partnership works sometimes in a one-way direction. And I just wanted to at least provide opportunity where we can look at some of the things that go both ways,” he said, referencing a quote from Xcel Energy for what it would cost to power the upcoming Runway Neighborhood that some officials felt was high.

McGary said that was a “back of the napkin quote,” noting the energy provider feels like it is operating in economic times more uncertain than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to work with you guys on all of these affordable housing neighborhoods. … So I think that we can be somewhat creative,” she said.