- Pact Between DOE and Xcel Energy Supports President Biden’s Executive Order Reestablishing Federal Government as a Sustainability Leader
According to the U.S. Department of Energy article published on April 21, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Xcel Energy announced they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide Federal facilities in Colorado with 100% carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030. This marks the second such partnership announced by the Biden-Harris Administration as the Government works with the private sector across the country to lead the way on sustainability. The announcement is part of President Biden’s commitment to catalyze clean-energy industries and create jobs through initiatives to achieve net-zero.
“At DOE, we are on the cutting edge of researching and developing clean-energy technologies, and it makes perfect sense that we partner with a company like Xcel Energy to harness them,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk, who announced the MOU with Xcel Energy–Colorado President Robert S. Kenney. “Together, we will demonstrate to Colorado energy producers and consumers what is possible in the transition to clean energy.”
“Xcel Energy is a national leader in the clean energy transition—always searching for new ways to help our customers meet their sustainability goals,” said Xcel Energy Chairman, President and CEO Bob Frenzel. “Today’s commitment to the Department of Energy is a model for collaboration with other federal and state agencies as well as all customers on innovative solutions to help our customers achieve their carbon-free goals.”
“Today’s MOU shows how America’s clean energy utilities are leaning in to power the federal government with 100% carbon-free electricity in line with President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan,” said Andrew Mayock, the Federal Government’s Chief Sustainability Officer with the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “I look forward to seeing this partnership between DOE and Xcel Energy in Colorado replicated across the country, catalyzing new clean energy jobs, technologies, and markets.”
“This MOU marks another milestone that demonstrates the strong momentum behind President Biden's goal to power the Federal Government with 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity,” said U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Robin Carnahan. “GSA looks forward to building on this progress by partnering with utilities around the country and using our buying power to spur demand for clean, reliable, and affordable energy for American businesses and families.”
The collaboration marks just the second partnership between an agency and a utility announced by the Biden-Harris Administration to collaborate on reducing the Government’s emissions, the first being the MOU signed by GSA and Entergy Arkansas LLC in November.
The partnership between DOE and Xcel Energy supports President Biden’s December 2021 Executive Order 14057 reestablishing the Federal Government as a leader in sustainability and setting the example for the nation to meet the Administration’s goals of a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.
Following today’s signing, DOE and Xcel Energy will commence a three-month work period to develop a plan that, when implemented, will mean Federal customers are supplied with 100% CFE by 2030 on an annual basis, with at least 50% CFE every day.
In addition to DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory campuses in Golden and Arvada, Federal facilities in Xcel Energy’s Colorado operating region include the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, the largest concentration of Federal agencies outside of Washington, D.C.
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