Southern Colorado transmission project received initial PUC approval

A Colorado Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge (ALJ) on Nov. 19 recommended the granting of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for the San Luis Valley-Calumet-Comanche Transmission Project, a proposed joint partnership between Tri-State and Xcel Energy.

The ALJ’s recommended decision will now be analyzed by two of the Colorado Public Utilities commissioners, who will subsequently issue an initial decision and then a final decision, on whether to grant the utilities' CPCN application.  The CPCN affirms there is a purpose and need for the project, but does not identify the specific route the line would take.

"The decision essentially grants Xcel Energy and Tri-State the authority to build the project and states they have met their burden of proof that it is in the public interest," said Terry Bote, a spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission.

Tri-State and Xcel Energy will now have to collaborate with local authorities and landowners to work out route details for the project. Tri-State must also gain environmental approvals from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), from which funds will be used for the project.

"Tri-State is pleased with the decision and confident the proposed project best serves the residents, businesses, farmers and ranchers of southern Colorado by providing access to a reliable supply of electricity, while facilitating the development of renewable energy," said Joel Bladow, Tri-State’s senior vice president of transmission.

The project builds on Tri-State’s previously proposed San Luis Valley Electric System Improvement Project. In 2007, Tri-State was planning lines from San Luis Valley to Walsenburg to strengthen the region’s electric system, increase reliability for its two electric cooperatives in the region – San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative (Monte Vista, Colo.) and San Isabel Electric Association (Pueblo West, Colo.) – and support renewable energy development. That same year, Xcel Energy began planning for transmission projects to better serve renewable energy zones established by Senate Bill 100.

The new joint project addresses both utilities’ goals and provides additional transmission system improvements in southern Colorado.  The applications to the PUC follow the two power suppliers’ agreement in October 2008 to jointly pursue transmission in the Colorado Coordinated Planning Group, a consortium of utilities and other stakeholders that jointly explore the development of a coordinated transmission network.

Updated: November 23, 2010