Representatives of Xcel Energy are awaiting a response from the state on a proposed $155 million project aimed at ensuring growing mountain communities have reliable energy sources.  

The plan is specifically geared toward Xcel’s Eastern Mountain Natural Gas System which includes areas in Summit, Grand, Lake and Eagle counties. Xcel representatives say it has now been submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for review.

Xcel Energy government affairs manager Blair McGary said a region the utility company covers, featuring 65,000 customers and spanning 975 miles of transmission pipeline, has “severe gas capacity constraints.” Communities began feeling this constraint in 2019, she said, due to a drop in pressure in the area’s natural gas supply. For Summit County residents, it started with rolling power outages in February 2019 which affected about 17,600 customers in the area.

McGary said for the past two years Xcel has sought to address the constraints by using modular liquid natural gas tanks. She told Silverthorne officials in a Feb. 12 meeting that the tanks serve as a stopgap solution, and Xcel wants to introduce a long-term solution: the Mountain Energy Project.

“We are excited to file the Mountain Energy Plan with the PUC, which includes $47 million in Non-Pipeline Alternatives, anything from weatherization of a home to conversion of boilers and furnaces, to Summit County” McGary said via email. 

According to information provided by Xcel, the company hopes to take a hybrid approach focused on launching non-pipeline alternatives and investing in its electric distribution systems. While the company transitions to providing cleaner energy, it will use modular liquid natural gas in the meantime, representatives say.

McGary told Silverthorne officials Xcel is “aggressively trying to prevent” bringing in additional pipelines. 

Xcel officials said non-pipeline alternatives include replacing direct fossil fuel use with electricity, directing customers to appliance upgrades which help reduce their natural gas use and putting out more energy conservation messaging to customers when natural gas is in high demand. 

McGary said Xcel is rolling out this plan in anticipation that some communities in the Eastern Mountain Gas System will grow, and with the intent to make the region less reliant on natural gas.

She added her company wants to ensure their electric system is prepared for times when pulling people off the gas system is warranted and this is partially fueling the push for non-pipeline alternatives.

In a recent news release put out by Xcel Energy announcing the project, the company said the project is largely intended to help meet Colorado’s clean energy goal and the company’s own vision of delivering net-zero natural gas service by 2050.

“The Mountain Energy Project, if approved, will provide valuable insight into how to effectively plan to achieve emissions reductions on the larger natural gas system serving our 1.5 million natural gas customers statewide,” Xcel Energy’s Colorado president Robert Kenney said in the news release.

McGary described filing any project to the Colorado’s Public Utility Commission to be a “challenging” and lengthy process.

For instance, Xcel Energy submitted its Wildfire Mitigation Plan June 27 and, according to the Colorado Public Utility Commission’s website, it still needs to go through two more public comment hearings, one on March 13 and one on April 29.

After the commission takes input from the public, the project will be subject to a few more processes before the final decision and a potential appeals stage.

According to Xcel Energy, the company anticipates a decision on the Mountain Energy Project from the Public Utility Commission by the end of 2025.