Xcel Energy
Bob Frenzel is the COO of Xcel Energy.
PUF: How does your company view the electric industry's transformation (decarbonization, electrification, digitization), and what's your strategy — technologies, resilience, operational efficiency, customer experience — to succeed in it?
Bob Frenzel: As the electric industry continues to transform, Xcel Energy is committed to leading the clean energy transition as the first utility in the nation with a vision to deliver a hundred percent carbon-free electricity by 2050, while cutting carbon emissions eighty percent by 2030 and keeping bills low for our customers.
At this stage of our plan, we can achieve these aggressive clean energy targets and protect reliability and affordability by closing all our coal units in the Upper Midwest by 2030, increasing solar and wind energy on our system, extending the use of carbon-free nuclear energy, using cleaner natural gas to back up renewables and helping our customers become more energy efficient.
We hit a significant milestone in this journey in 2019, recording our largest single-year drop in emissions, cutting carbon by 5.6 million tons, a more than ten percent reduction in one year.
PUF: How has COVID-19 impacted the strategic environment for the electric industry and specifically your strategy?