Xcel Energy said its Colorado utility will complete in October the upgrade of a six-inch diameter natural gas transmission pipeline to a 16-inch diameter line running in the west-central part of the state. The upgrade aims to address growing population and facilitate switching an existing coal-fired power plant to gas in another area of the Xcel utility system. The utility added a third construction crew to overcome delays and keep the project on schedule.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) won a reprieve from state water regulators regarding the use of seawater for several of its coastal gas-fired power plants. The California Water Resources Control Board earlier this year decided to ban once-through-cooling (OTC) used at 20 coastal plants (see Daily GPI, May 3). LADWP now has until 2035 to eliminate OTC at all of its generating units, and the first one is not due until 2024. Previously, the utility had to comply by 2020. LADWP committed to evaluate by 2015 technologies to reduce the impingement and entrainment of sea life from OTC. The added measures protecting marine life would have to be implemented at each power unit by the end of 2020.

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