Xcel takes next step in renewable energy plan
| August 10, 2009 | 5:40 PM
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post implied that this announcement was perhaps tied to last week’s controversy over a proposed solar-panel fee. That implication was incorrect, and this post has been updated to correct my error.
Less than a week after yanking an unpopular proposed fee for solar panel users, Xcel Energy is asking the Public Utilities Commission to approve the results of its bidding process to acquire 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy.
The PUC first approved Xcel’s plan to add renewable energy last December, triggering the bidding process. Details submitted Monday include:
- Retiring two coal-fired generating units near Grand Junction by the end of 2010 and two in Denver by 2014.
- Adding 280 megawatts of new solar technology.
- Adding more than 700 megawatts of wind and solar photovoltaic generating capacity.
- Continued access to 900 megawatts of existing natural gas-fired resources.
The plan also represents a step toward Xcel’s state-mandated requirement to produce 20 percent of its electricity in Colorado from renewable sources by 2020.
Xcel, which, as of January, produced 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, has said that it wants to meet the 20 percent goal by 2015, five years earlier than required.
Read more about Xcel’s 2007 Colorado Resource Plan here.
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public utilities commission, renewable energy, solar panel, Xcel Energy
