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University of Colorado Boulder

University of Colorado Boulder

Public university

Appears in 1 story

Stories

Colorado’s new fire-season tradeoff: Xcel cuts power to stop a spark

Built World

Canceling normal operations during PSPS and wind-driven fire risk

Xcel Energy’s deliberate blackout on Colorado’s Front Range didn’t end neatly when the wind eased. By the time crews could start patrols, the first PSPS was entangled with widespread storm damage—Xcel said total weather-related outages reached about 120,000, far beyond the roughly 50,000 customers initially targeted for de-energization.

Updated Dec 20, 2025