Xcel Energy signs deal with DOE to provide carbon-free electricity

Xcel Energy has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to provide Federal facilities in Colorado with carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030.

This is the second partnership the Biden administration has announced with the private sector to provide clean energy for government facilities. The first was between the Government Services Administration (GSA) and Entergy Arkansas, signed in November.

“At DOE, we are on the cutting edge of researching and developing clean-energy technologies, and it makes perfect sense that we partner with a company like Xcel Energy to harness them,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk said. “Together, we will demonstrate to Colorado energy producers and consumers what is possible in the transition to clean energy.”

The partnership between DOE and Xcel Energy supports the Biden Administration’s goal of a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions overall by 2050.

“Xcel Energy is a national leader in the clean energy transition—always searching for new ways to help our customers meet their sustainability goals,” said Xcel Energy Chairman, President and CEO Bob Frenzel. “Today’s commitment to the Department of Energy is a model for collaboration with other federal and state agencies as well as all customers on innovative solutions to help our customers achieve their carbon-free goals.”

This agreement would encompass DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory campuses in Golden and Arvada, as well as other federal facilities in Xcel Energy’s Colorado operating region, including the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood.

“Today’s MOU shows how America’s clean energy utilities are leaning in to power the federal government with 100% carbon-free electricity in line with President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan,” Andrew Mayock, the chief sustainability officer with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said. “I look forward to seeing this partnership between DOE and Xcel Energy in Colorado replicated across the country, catalyzing new clean energy jobs, technologies, and markets.”

DOE and Xcel Energy will commence a three-month work period to develop a plan to provide federal customers with 100 percent CFE by 2030 annually.