The Colorado agency that regulates public utilities approved wind, solar and battery storage projects for the state’s largest energy provider under an expedited near-term procurement process at a recent meeting.

The decision by the Public Utilities Commission allows Xcel Energy to capture some federal tax credits that are set to phase out after 2026, while imposing conditions and requiring further study to address transmission and efficiency risks.

The commission trimmed the utility’s initial proposal of about 4,900 megawatts to roughly 1,700 megawatts.

The fast-track effort began in 2025 to secure production and investment tax credits that could reduce project costs by up to 50% and deliver billions in long-term customer savings, according to clean energy analysts and Xcel estimates.

The commission has been skeptical of the request’s magnitude.

Commissioner Megan Gilman highlighted the ratepayer impact in a prior Xcel resource case.

“The updated preferred plan had high levels of curtailment,” she said. “Ratepayers pay for that, you know, and so I think it’s important to us and it’s our priority to ensure that the money that we’re seeing invested on behalf of the ratepayers is spent as wisely as possible.”

The commission required Xcel to provide additional analysis by April on transmission capacity, cost-effectiveness inside versus outside the Denver metro area, and curtailment risks.

Curtailment occurs when renewable plants must be turned down or shut off because the grid cannot accept the excess power, often due to overloaded transmission lines or lack of demand. Unused generating capacity is wasted, reducing the project’s value to ratepayers because fixed costs are spread over less electricity delivered.

Chairman Eric Blank expressed similar caution about overcommitting without stronger data. In August 2025, he said delaying some generation would allow the PUC “to better understand the cost, value, timing and need for the new transmission before we’re committed to building it.”

These concerns prompted the PUC to scale back approvals in past proceedings, including trimming billions from Xcel’s 2023 resource proposal. The commission previously reduced allowable curtailment rates in that case but did not set a specific threshold in this decision; instead, it mandated further review of potential risks for conditional projects to limit waste and protect ratepayers from higher effective costs.

Blank voiced fresh reservations at the Jan. 28 meeting.

“I am struggling to sign off on rate-basing a $1 billion to $2 billion investment without having these analyses,” he said.

Blank also supported including dispatchable resources for reliability.

“It is clear we need dispatchable resources in the Denver metro area,” he said, supporting a 200-megawatt natural gas combustion turbine.

The gas turbine component was not subject to the same conditional further review as some renewable bids. It was green-lit for its role in providing firm, dispatchable power amid renewable additions.

Blank’s concerns echo his August 2025 statements: “This will likely be the single largest resource acquisition in the history of Colorado and an over $15 billion commitment from customers. There is a real risk that if these new uncommitted loads don’t materialize, it will likely substantially raise existing customer rates.”

Gilman, who has raised similar ratepayer issues in related Xcel matters, in an August 2025 discussion on new capacity, said: “This is essentially money being collected from all of the public service company’s ratepayers … not shareholders.”

Approved projects included wind farms with short build timelines, metro-area battery storage procured through a lower-cost contract rather than utility ownership, and a gas turbine for backup. Several high-cost wind proposals were rejected over cost and grid concerns.

Xcel and clean energy advocates sought the full portfolio to secure tax credits. Consumer advocates and the state energy office staff preferred a smaller set to control expenses.