Dive Brief:

• Xcel Energy plans to buy power from a $200 million, 120-MW solar project in Colorado, the utility said Tuesday.
• Community Energy Solar, based in Radnor, Pennsylvania, will build the Comanche Solar project, which will be the largest solar project east of the Rockies.
• The project is the result of Xcel's most recent resource plan, approved in December, that calls for adding 450 MW of wind, 317 MW of natural gas-fired generation and 170 MW of utility-scale photovoltaic solar to meet its resource needs.

Dive Insight:

Xcel entered into two solar power purchase agreements (details around the second 50-MW PPA have not been released) because they were least-cost resources. It marked the first time Xcel found solar to be a least cost resource. The pricing details are confidential, but Xcel told the Colorado Public Utilities Commission that the least expensive solar PPA is the same as a levelized gas price of less than $5.90/MMBtu for 20 years and the other contract comes in at $5.96/MMBtu for 25 years.

Xcel is focusing on utility-scale solar projects because they are more than half the price of rooftop solar.