Xcel Energy’s latest resource solicitation returned renewable energy and storage bids so competitive they have the sector abuzz on social media. While Kann noted details about battery duration and sizing were not made available, the price of battery-paired solar in the solicitation is a full $9/MWh cheaper than the cheapest contract announced just last year.
Last year Xcel subsidiary Public Service Co. of Colorado announced a plan to shutter 660 MW of coal-fired capacity at the Comanche Generating Station and issued a competitive request for proposals of up to 1,000 MW of wind, 700 MW of solar, and 700 MW of natural gas and/or storage.
In its status report, Xcel told state regulators that “the response to this solicitation is unprecedented.” The utility received 430 total individual proposals including 238 total projects. More than 350 of the individual proposals are renewable energy proposals or renewable energy with storage proposals, according to the report.
For comparison, Xcel said it received 55 bids in its 2013 all-source solicitation.
Many developers provided multiple bids for a single project resulting in significantly more bids than projects, Xcel noted. Differing bid information, such as different proposed in-service dates, different power purchase
agreements terms, and different ownership structures can result in multiple bids from a single proposed
project.
Of the 238 projects proposed, 99 projects included some level of utility ownership.
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