Xcel Energy reports over half its energy is carbon-free 

Xcel Energy released its annual sustainability report this week, announcing 53% of its energy generation is carbon-free, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. Company officials say the company is on-pace to exceed their carbon-reduction goals by the decade’s end.

Xcel’s Midwest system, to which Wisconsin belongs, generates 69% of its electricity without carbon. In 2018, the utility was the nation’s first to pledge it would provide 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050.

Xcel’s power generation was 56% coal-powered 17 years ago; that number fell to 23% last year. In the same time period, wind power generation increased from 3–30%; solar energy now accounts for 4% of the utility’s power; and, according to 2022 statistics, nuclear power produces 13% of Xcel’s electricity.