Xcel: Power not problem this summer

Electricity officials won't be afraid of the dark this summer.

High temperatures, a delayed power plant and national utilities with little energy to spare forced Xcel's Energy's first blackout warnings in its history in the Panhandle last year.

But better access to power for sale and a new power generator make the region's main power supplier confident it will not repeat the thin margins it ran in 2008.

"We're not going to go out this summer and do what we did last summer," Xcel resource acquisition manager Bennie Weeks said, "unless a power plant fails on us or something and is going to be out for a long period of time."

A bustling economy made power hard to find last summer as officials hunted to replace power from a new New Mexico plant, Weeks said.

Manufacturers and oil and gas producers demanded more electricity as construction time pushed the opening of a plant Xcel had expected in time for the peak summer season back into the fall.

Hot weather across the country stretched the available electricity for residential meters, too, as customers demanded more for air conditioners and other needs.

The company issued two warnings requesting customers curb power consumption on hot days to keep Xcel from triggering blackouts.

"Most utilities and generating entities, they hit peaks last year, and a new peak for their system," Weeks said. "That's not going to happen this year, probably."

The Lea Power Partners plant in Hobbs will provide 520 megawatts of power this summer - enough for more than 457,000 homes.

Xcel still needed to secure power for another 147,000 homes despite the new plant. Almost half of that need could be met through purchases from another company subsidiary in Colorado.

"Even though the region's seen an economic slowdown, it really didn't change the forecasting that much," spokesman Wes Reeves said.

To comment on this story:

elliott.blackburn@lubbockonline.com l 766-8722

walt.nett@lubbockonline.com l 766-8706

First appeared on lubbockonline.com: 8:55 p.m. Thursday.

SOUTH PLAINS/Officials say shortages of summer '08 not likely to happen this year

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