Citing diminished projections for power demand, Xcel Energy executives said Thursday they will postpone projects that include a power uprate at the Prairie Island nuclear plant in Minnesota.
The NRC granted the plant’s reactors a 20 year license renewal in June, at which point the company said it would invest $500 million in the plant over the next four years. Xcel also announced it would apply for a 15 percent power uprate, which the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported has been "put on hold and will be reviewed further." While the utility still plans to spend $13.4 billion on generation and transmission projects through 2016, Xcel officials said the company will not need additional generation for the region that includes Minnesota and part of the Dakotas until 2018.
Xcel subsidiary Northern States Power Co. owns two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors at the Prairie Island plant southeast of Minneapolis that together produce about 1,100 megawatts, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company also owns a GE boiling water reactor at the Monticello plant northwest of Minneapolis.