WIND ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF COLORADO SYSTEM: COST COMPARISON TO NATURAL GAS

By comparing existing wind projects and wind projects that were proposed (but not built) to the cost of natural gas generation (which wind energy most often displaces), the authors of the study, “Wind on the Public Service Company of Colorado System:  Cost Comparison to Natural Gas,” Jane Pater and Ron Binz, quantify savings that wind energy generation has already provided Xcel Energy’s consumers.  The authors then project what consumers would have saved if additional amounts of wind energy generation that Xcel sought but did not buy had been added to Xcel’s power generation portfolio during generation resource acquisition bids in 1999, 2004 and 2005.  Pater is experienced in energy and environmental affairs, and Binz was Colorado Consumer Counsel for eleven years.

Significant findings from this study include:

• The cost savings for wind generation that Xcel Energy has already acquired will produce more than $251 million in fuel and emissions cost savings for PSCo [Xcel Energy] ratepayers over the next 20 years.
• Had Xcel acquired additional wind generation that it sought and was offered, at about the prices for the wind it did buy, Colorado ratepayers would have saved a total of $438 million over the lives of these contracts (15 to 20 years) —that is, an additional $186 million over the savings that will be achieved by the wind farms now on the Xcel system.
• Current levels of wind generation will prevent 19.2 million tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise result from burning fossil fuels; adding wind generation that could have been purchased, as suggested in this study, would have further reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 14.7 million tons.

To read the entire study, entitled “Wind on the Public Service Company of Colorado System:  Cost Comparison to Natural Gas,” visit the Interwest Energy Alliance’s website at www.interwest.org.