ACEC National Energy and Environment Challenges in Asset Management? Brian Long Transmission Line Performance Xcel Energy August 15, 2015

Northern States Power Company Minnesota Public Service Company of Colorado Southwestern Public Service Company Northern States Power Company Wisconsin  No. 1 wind energy provider  No. 5 in utility solar capacity  Top 5 in Energy Efficiency programs  Industry-leading voluntary emission reductions  Leader in pursuit of new technologies Xcel Energy Inc. Gas Customers 1.9 M Electric Customers 3.4 M 2

Xcel Energy Asset Portfolio Power Plants 77 miles of transmission lines 19,000 transmission structures 200,000 transformers 2,100 substations 1,300 Transmission Control Centers 4

System Sustainability Targeted Renewal and Maintenance Programs System Performance Metrics Data & analytics 4 Evolving to risk based programs

Xcel Energy Programs Targeted Asset Renewal (Aging vs Condition) Transmission (Refurbishment / Replacement) Substation (Major Equipment) Risk Based Maintenance Repair vs Replace Adaptive Reliability Centered Maintenance (ARCM) Breakers, transformers, voltage regulators, switches, PT/CT, batteries 5

Data and Analytics 6 Key Components for Success Accuracy of data Quality control processes Tools and resources Thinking outside the box

Integrating transmission line prioritization with GIS mapping data Circuit Importance Circuit Reliability Circuit condition assessment Defect and Severity Age ProfileCost System Performance Metrics & Reports The average age of Xcel Energy transmission system is 47 years

Adaptive Reliability Center Maintenance 8 Condition assessment Defect and Severity Failure rateAge ProfileCostPrioritization Allows maintenance funds to be repurposed to equipment with high risk scores

Integrated Planning System performance Operational flexibility 5-year time frame Life Cycle Horizon Real time compliance <1 year Communication protocol Fiber, PLC, networked 5-10 year timeframe NERC compliance, interconnection, load obligation 5 & 10-year timeframe Transmission planning Communications planning System renewal planning Real-time planning For cost effective execution of asset renewal and maintenance programs 9 Cross Coordination of Workgroups

Integrated Workforce Engineers Financial Analyst Data Analyst Field Operation Crews 10 Cross coordination of skillsets and thought processes Fosters innovation and removes perceived barriers

What does the future look like? Integration of GIS mapping, asset health index and system planning Software to calculate health index Advanced Software tools Advanced communication networks Field entry of data Automatic sync of information Remote Sensors / UAV’s / Video (Inspection) Mobility / Sensing Industry metrics for asset health Defined terminology Compliance Based Risk review of infrastructure condition (California Fires) Standardization on health index

Questions 12