Once the industry's poster child, Xcel Energy's grand SmartGridCity experiment in Boulder, Colorado is suddenly under attack. Documents piling up before the state's PUC reveal a he-said, she-said tale of cost overruns, unmet promises, departing executives and a belated request for ratepayers to foot the bill. Jesse Berst says the industry better get prepared for damage control.More>>
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When reports of cost overruns at Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity emerged earlier this year, we asked the question: How bad are the problems with SmartGridCity? Now, after slogging through a series of documents filed recently with the Colorado Public Utility Commission, I can tell you this: Whatever the reality, it doesn’t look good.
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The latest ugly data unearthed about the flagship smart grid project SmartGridCity in Boulder Colo. — one of the most widely publicized experiments in bringing smart grid systems to an entire city — is cringe-worthy. According to SmartGridNews, which dug through Colorado Public Utility Commission filings, the project was woefully mismanaged, and didn’t follow the proper procedures or do the proper cost benefit analysis before it was started. By now most of you know that SmartGridCity, the showcase smart grid project from utility Xcel Energy, has gone way over budget. As we noted back in February the latest estimate for a project that was projected to cost $15.3 million, has risen to an estimated $42.1 million, and that doesn’t include operations and maintenance (the entire project is expected to cost in excess of $100 million). SmartGridNews says the project is now estimated to cost $44.8 million. Read More »
