With more renewable energy going on the grid and more vehicles and homes turning all-electric, Colorado utilities and regulators are planning more transmission lines and equipment to handle the increasing demands.
But questions about the location of new electric substations, which convert high-voltage electricity to power for homes and businesses, have come up after Xcel Energy-Colorado revealed plans for a substation in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. The area is already home to several industrial sites, some of the city’s highest pollution levels and a long legacy of contamination from industrial activity.
The substation will support growth in the River North Art District and the National Western Complex, but will be built in an area where the majority of residents are people of color and lower incomes, said DeDe Engsberg, who has a home in neighboring Globeville and whose daughter lives in Elyria-Swansea.
“There’s very little growth going on in Elyria-Swansea,” Engsberg said.
The National Western Complex, the Colorado State University Spur campus on the National Western grounds and RiNo are the ones using the energy, Engsberg added. For her, Xcel’s plans raise questions about environmental justice.
“The neighborhood certainly has had enough environmental impacts,” said Nola Miguel, director of the Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition. “Everyone’s goal that lives in the neighborhood is to reduce and get rid of any type of environmental impacts. But we also need the infrastructure.
“I think everyone is trying to understand what is the impact,” Miguel said.
Xcel Energy wants to build the Poder electric substation at East 51st Avenue and Columbine Street in northeast Denver, with construction completed in 2026. The site would be to the west and across the BNSF railroad tracks from the Swansea Park, Swansea Recreation Center and surrounding homes.
The 7-acre site would include overhead lines for transmission and distribution interconnections. It would serve Elyria-Swansea, Globeville, Five Points, the area around the National Western Complex, portions of Commerce City and industrial areas.
Grace Lopez Ramirez, senior area manager for Xcel community and local government affairs, has met with area residents. The company has asked for feedback on ideas about building walls or planting trees as a buffer around the equipment. A page on its website has pictures of possible designs and a survey.
“We knew we were going to need a substation in this part of the city,” said Ramirez.
And other new substations across Denver are on the horizon as more electric vehicles hit the roads and people trade in their natural gas appliances for electric ones. Xcel expects its load to double over the next few years as Denver implements a program to power more buildings with electricity rather than fossil fuel.
A 2021 city ordinance calls for all buildings to be net-zero energy by 2040, meaning they produce at least as much energy as they consume on an annual basis. A 2022 state law says updated building codes must require that new buildings be solar- and electric-ready to cut greenhouse gas emissions and make the move to renewable energy.
The need for more juice
Xcel Energy’s Colorado Power Pathway will spend nearly $2 billion on transmission lines stretching from the Eastern Plains to the northern Front Range. The utility has proposed spending another $2.8 billion on transmission upgrades in the Denver area.
“We will probably need five to seven more substations in central Denver,” Ramirez said. “It might take many years, but it takes time to build the infrastructure and get it sited. That’s why we’re starting now.”
The last substation built in Denver was in 2003 just southwest of Coors Field. About eight years ago, Xcel Energy began looking at potential substation sites in north Denver. Xcel documents in 2019 and 2022 refer to a “stock show” substation, apparently referring to the National Western Stock Show.
“Why can’t they put it on the National Western campus? Why does it have to be across the street from our children’s playgrounds?” Ean Tafoya, Colorado state director of GreenLatinos, asked after a recent community meeting.
Tafoya said when areas are gentrified, as in RiNo’s case, more power is needed for all the new buildings. “OK, where are we going to put it? Next to the brown people’s playground,” he said.
If the substation is built in Elyria-Swansea, Tafoya thinks planting mature trees along the railroad tracks as a buffer and providing solar to the recreation center could help offset the impacts.
When it came to selecting a site, Ramirez said Xcel looked at “a huge swath of Denver” north of Interstate 70. She said she didn’t know why earlier documents referred to a stock show substation. Xcel worked with the National Western on a system using wastewater to generate energy for heating and cooling.
“This location really stood out because of the proximity to our transmission line along York Street, which wouldn’t have been the case at the National Western,” Ramirez said of Elyria-Swansea.
The city wanted Xcel Energy to consider locations where the property owner was willing to sell. The company has an option to buy the site used by the Colorado Serum Co., which is next to the train tracks.
The utility will have to apply for a series permits for the project, whose cost is estimated at $46.1 million.
Ramirez stressed that substations are common across Denver. Each Denver City Council district has them, she said.
A station in the heart of Capitol Hill is mostly hidden behind a large concrete and brick enclosure. A substation four blocks east of the Cherry Creek Mall has a facade that blends well with the surrounding homes.
Xcel will continue talking to Elyria-Swansea residents about their concerns, Ramirez said. One concern is what happens if a train derails next to the substation.
“That’s something that we’re taking into consideration,” Ramirez said. “Safety and security are the topmost priority for us.”
Xcel will likely have another open house in January or February to talk to residents, she added. “Our ultimate goal is to be good neighbors.”
Miguel said the Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition is working with partners to build a 170-unit affordable housing project and public library on city-owned land at 4995 Washington St. She said the coalition has been told there might not be enough power for the development without additional transmission in the area.
“It seems like there’s going to be a need for substations across Denver, any area that’s growing,” Miguel said. “It’s important that the public understand what the consequences are of these.”
Miguel wishes the neighborhood would have been brought into the discussions about the Poder substation earlier. She said residents would have asked to locate the substation farther away from the park and houses or to find another site.
“I don’t know what other option we have. It’s not an equal playing field here,” Miguel said.
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Xcel Energy says more electric substations needed in Denver. Critics ask why in Elyria-Swansea? - The Denver Post
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