Canary Media | Xcel Minnesota is building a first-of-its kind virtual power plant by Jeff St. John

Xcel Energy in Minnesota is poised to become the first utility in the nation to build and operate its own virtual power plant. For the past six, fans and foes have debated the novel plan , which will see Xcel deploy hundreds of megawatts of small-scale batteries at customer sites across its territory. The Minnesota…

Read more: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/virtual-power-plants/xcel-minnesota-first-virtual-power-plant

#xcelminnesota #xcelenergy #minnesota #virtualpowerplant

A little bit of excitement today - high winds took down a number of trees, including one which landed on the high voltage utility lines in my neighborhood.

It was pretty wild, you could see the arcs and hear the crackle of the tree roasting, even over the wind. There were big bursts of smoke coming off the tree too, although those were carried away by the wind instantly. Luckily the firefighters were able to pull the tree off the lines and then cut off the top 10' or so, so no more fire risk (from that particular tree, anyway).

Since Xcel (our utility provider) doesn't care about anything but ensuring competitve C-suite pay and meeting shareholder expectations, they ignored several requests to shut down power. Made the firefighter's job a lot more dangerous, fortunately they're pros at this sort of thing.

The cop, of course, sat in his car the entire time (and probably collected hazard pay).

#fire #wind #nature #colorado #mountains #xcel #xcelenergy

Gotta say that I have mixed feelings about how #XcelEnergy handles planned outages in Colorado. On the one hand, I totally get that they're trying to avoid wildfire propagation on high-wind days after months of dry (drought?) conditions. I even applaud the sentiment.

At the same time, having walked around the area a bit, less than two hours after my neighborhood grid was shut off, I'm kinda surprised that I can see other grids active. Less than a half mile one way and two blocks away the other.

Phew, rough day.

Generator ran out of gas at 4am, so I woke up and plugged my ASV machine into my (as it turns out, partially charged) backup battery. That died at 5:30am, so I got up, got dressed, and left in search of more gasoline.

Both gas stations in town closed, no power. Gas station in the next town over closed, no power. Wound up driving over an hour to Denver to get gas, then an hour back up (I did get 15 gallons at least, that's 2 tanks for the generator/several days of runtime).

Power came back on literally ten minutes before I got back to the house.

Good thing I grabbed gas though, because Xcel is planning to cut our power AGAIN from 5am to 6pm tomorrow. Literally the entire day.

Also, got a flu shot yesterday and combined with all the running around and stress I have a *brutal* headache.

Ahh well, can't every day be a winner.

#rant #health #flu #power #xcelenergy #xcel #electricity

My favorite thing about Xcel is how I never have to worry about the gas in my backup generator going bad.

My second favorite thing is how they pay their CEO 8 million dollars a year instead of maintaining their infrastructure.

(Seriously, I could set up a bot to send this toot once a month and it would never seem out of place, because we have power outages at least once a month).

#utility #colorado #xcelenergy #xcel

Xcel Energy Reaches $640 Million Settlement Over Marshall Fire Lawsuit

Xcel Energy and two telecommunications companies have reached a $640 million settlement with plaintiffs on the verge of the Marshall Fire trial. The settlement, which is not final yet, must be approved by the individual plaintiffs involved in the case. The lawsuit stems from the Marshall Fire of Dec... [More info]

The Lies Have It: #XcelEnergy Wins Operating Extension for Nation’s 5th Oldest Nuclear Reactor

by John Laforge, January 10, 2025

"I.F. Stone famously said, 'All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.' The aphorism applies well to #NuclearReactor operators, including Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy.

"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (#NRC) has granted Xcel a second license extension for operating its 54-year-old #MonticelloReactor on the #MississippiRiver in #Minnesota. The decision will permit this GE jalopy, a #Fukushima clone, to run until it’s 80 years old — a dangerous feat never been done in the history of nuclear power. The NRC received over 3,000 public comments mostly critical of the extension, but the the commission has rubber stamped 87 of 92 similar requests, so call the NRC Never Really Concerned.

"The NRC nod is based partly on the commission’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (#EIS) for the re-licensing, even though the document confirms that Xcel repeatedly made false statements about its massive 2022-‘23 leak of #radioactive cooling water. According to a March 16, 2023 Associated Press (AP) story, Xcel’s first public response to the major leak was, 'There’s no danger to the public.' Xcel then proceeded to understate by more than half the leak’s actual volume, only estimating it was 400,000 gallons.

"Xcel eventually acknowledged that volume of the leak, from an old corroded underground pipe, was 829,000 gallons, and that the #groundwater plume of reactor cooling water — some of which would later reach the Mississippi River — had a radioactive footprint of some fourteen curies of #tritium — a very large amount. (For a reference, the 1979 partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island released an estimated 15 curies of gaseous radioactive iodine-131 to the Pennsylvania atmosphere. Other radioactive materials went into the Susquehanna River.)

"Xcel’s 829,000-gallon leak was always a direct threat to drinking water because — as the company’s own 2023 Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Report states on page 13 — 'It is assumed groundwater continuously flows to the river…' The Mississippi is the drinking water source for 20 million people, including #Minneapolis, #StPaul and their surrounding suburbs 37 miles downstream from the leaky reactor."

Read more:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/01/10/the-lies-have-it-xcel-energy-wins-operating-extension-for-nations-5th-oldest-nuclear-reactor/
#RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #WaterIsLife #MonticelloNuclearPlant

IDEXX Labs $IDXX posted EPS of $2.79, above the forecast of $2.68, with revenue at $975.54M, slightly below the $979.98M estimate.

Xcel Energy $XEL reported EPS of $1.25, narrowly missing the $1.26 forecast, and revenue of $3.64B, below the expected $3.93B.

Xylem $XYL met EPS expectations at $1.11, while revenue came in at $2.1B, under the $2.17B forecast.

#Earnings #IDEXX #XcelEnergy #Xylem #Finance #Stocks #Investing