“We’ve challenged our team to develop innovative ways to make our fleet even more valuable – and delivering carbon-free hydrogen shows they’ve answered that call,” he added. “This hydrogen project demonstrates our commitment to innovation and investing in new technologies. “Our carbon-free nuclear fleet has been key to our energy system for decades,” said Pat Burke, vice president of Nuclear Strategy and Innovation. If regulators decide some of costs were imprudent, Xcel's investors will take the financial hit, sparing customers from at least a portion of the utility's next rate hike.A new frontier for nuclear energy in the United States is under exploration, and Xcel Energy is at the forefront with a project to produce hydrogen, most likely at its Prairie Island plant near Red Wing, Minnesota. The cost of the Monticello upgrade, which replaced decades-old equipment and boosted the plant's output, is under review by an administrative law judge, who will issue findings later this year. That project also required work in tight, radioactive areas of the plant. In arguing that its charges were justified, the company's lawsuit quotes statements from Xcel officials defending the cost of the Monticello nuclear power plant upgrade. Some of the higher costs, the suit contends, grew out of Xcel's decision to perform additional work of its own at the same time, causing delays by interfering with movement of Babcock workers and equipment in the plant.īabcock & Wilcox contends that much of the work was done in cramped places where workers must put on and take off radiation protection gear every time they passed through a portal. The latter are estimates and required Xcel to pay the actual costs, the suit said.
The 330-ton generators were assembled in France, arrived by ship and barge, and were hoisted through a hatch in the containment building with only inches of clearance.Īccording to the lawsuit, Babcock & Wilcox's contract contained both fixed and "target" prices. The replacement of the 40-year-old steam generators at Prairie Island was a major project, employing up to 1,500 workers for more than a year. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission did not respond to a request to comment. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, through a spokesman, also declined to comment. Babcock & Wilcox and its Minneapolis law firm, Fabyanske, Westra, Hart & Thomson, would not comment on the case. SNL-Lavalin did not respond to a request for comment. The suit claims interest on unpaid bills of $22,000 per day. Such liens are more commonly associated with smaller disputes over building construction where subcontractors have gone unpaid. The suit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and seeks to enforce a mechanic's lien filed on the power plant's property in July. The lawsuit suggests that Babcock's main complaint is with Xcel because SNL submitted the subcontractor's billings to Xcel, which then refused to pay. SNL hired Babcock & Wilcox as a major subcontractor. The suit was filed in Goodhue County District Court, and names as a second defendant the project's prime contractor SNL-Lavalin Nuclear Inc., based in Pittsburgh. The suit said that Xcel's claim to Wisconsin regulators that the project stayed closed to original costs appears to be "disinigenuious and in bad faith."
XCEL ENERGY NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS FULL
Xcel will file a response within 20 days, she said.īabcock & Wilcox also alleged that Xcel officials have not told the full story about Prairie Island costs to utility regulators during rate increase proceedings in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the plant's electricity is consumed. In an e-mail, Sandok said the Prairie Island lawsuit is solely about claims for additional payment that the company considers without merit. Xcel generally does not comment on specifics of pending litigation, said spokeswoman Mary Sandok. State regulators still are investigating whether the additional expenses were justified. In that project, also completed last year, Xcel admits that costs more than doubled to $665 million.
XCEL ENERGY NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS UPGRADE
That's far short of the massive cost overrun on another upgrade project at the Xcel's nuclear power plant in Monticello. If the $45 million in disputed charges are added to that, it represents a 16 percent cost overrun. Xcel told Minnesota regulators the project cost $285 million. One of the nation's top power plant contractors is alleging $45 million in unpaid cost overruns during Xcel Energy's 18-month overhaul of its Prairie Island Nuclear Power plant in Red Wing.īabcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based contractor, says in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that Xcel has refused to pay the full cost for the complex job of replacing a pair of massive steam generators at the plant's Unit 2.
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