XCEL ENERGY SETS ANOTHER SINGLE-YEAR RECORD IN CARBON REDUCTION

For the second year in a row, Xcel Energy has hit a significant milestone in its quest to deliver 100 percent carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050. The company broke its own record for a single-year drop in emissions in 2020, cutting carbon emissions company-wide by approximately six million tons, a 12 percent reduction over 2019 levels. That’s equivalent to taking nearly 1.2 million cars off the road for a year. In 2019, Xcel Energy achieved a 10 percent reduction over the previous year.
Since 2005, the company has reduced carbon emissions by fifty-one percent as it leads the nation’s clean energy transition. Xcel Energy’s 2020 carbon reductions outpaced the industry, which is ahead of any other part of the economy. At the end of 2020, it is estimated the U.S. electric power sector had reduced carbon emissions just under 40 percent from 2005 levels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“We’re making tremendous progress towards delivering on our clean energy goals,” according to Ben Fowke, Chairman and CEO of Xcel Energy. “Even after factoring in the effect of the global pandemic on our operations, we are well on our way to achieving our goal of reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 and are more than halfway to delivering 100 percent carbon-free electricity to our customers, all while keeping their service reliable and energy bills low.”
Several factors contributed to the 2020 carbon reduction results. Xcel Energy continued to significantly increase wind generation on its system, becoming one of the first energy providers in the United States to reach 10,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity online for customers in the states it serves.
The company added more than 800 megawatts of new wind projects in late 2019, in addition to bringing nearly 2,200 megawatts of new wind projects online in 2020. By the end of 2021, Xcel Energy estimates that approximately thirty-five percent of its energy will be from wind. Through the company’s wind expansion, it has delivered approximately $430 million in fuel savings to its customers from 2017 to 2020.
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