Solar

Solar energy is a growing part of our renewable portfolio. We have solar consumer and power generation programs in place and are studying further opportunities to utilize solar energy.

Xcel Energy sponsors Boulder Solar Home tour

Xcel Energy in Colorado recently sponsored the Boulder Tour of Solar and Green Built Homes in partnership with the Center for Resource Conservation, said Craig Eicher, area manager for Community and Local Government Affairs. The tour was part of the Boulder Solar Week 2007, an event for homeowners to learn about renewable energy and green building technologies, as well as energy-efficiency rebates available through Xcel Energy. This year's Boulder Tour of Solar and Green Built Homes featured 14 innovative solar and green-built homes around Boulder, Eicher said. Participants received a booklet and map of the homes, plus an educational CD ROM.

The tour provided an opportunity for homeowners to see first-hand that solar and green-built homes are comfortable, practical, reliable and affordable, he said. Tour participants were able to meet with the homeowners, builders, contractors and installers to ask questions and discuss opportunities.

''Xcel Energy is proud to be working with Boulder on a number of programs to reduce the city's greenhouse gas footprint,'' Eicher said. ''Boulder has earned a national reputation for environmental awareness and sustainable living by participating in our industry-leading renewable energy and conservation programs at a higher level than any other area in our service territory.''

Recently Boulder became the first city in the nation to institute a carbon tax,which Xcel Energy agreed to collect through its electric bills. The tax generates approximately $1 million per year to promote energy-efficiency programs for its residents and businesses.

Alamosa Solar Plant on Schedule to Provide Renewable Energy

We are pleased to report that construction of the $60 million, 8.2-megawatt Alamosa Central Solar Plant, being built on an 82-acre tract in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado, is on schedule. When completed by the end of the year, we will purchase all the plant’s electricity, enough to supply clean, renewable solar energy to 1,500 homes.

Field of advanced flat-plate solar panel units near Alamosa, Colorado.

“We are bringing on this power incrementally to prove the concept and as a trial,” said Chris Pardington, Manager of Electric Engineering. “Congressman Mark Udall was on hand at our first test last summer to see how the system works. We brought three megawatts of solar energy on to our transmission and distribution system that will flow to our customers, including those in the San Luis Valley.”

This solar energy installation plays an important role for us in meeting Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard, which now requires large electric utilities to generate 15 percent of their power through renewable energy sources by 2015. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed into law legislation that requires utilities such as Xcel Energy to receive 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Advanced flat-plate solar panels.

SunEdison, North America’s largest solar energy services provider, will build, own and maintain the solar plant, one of the largest solar photovoltaic power plants in the country. The plant will generate enough clean energy to remove the carbon emissions produced by 2,840 cars driving 12,500 miles annually or roughly 710,000,000 miles over 20 years, according to SunEdison.

Project construction employed up to 70 tradesmen. With the training they received on this installation, SunEdison expects these labor and construction professionals will be working on another Colorado solar project once the Alamosa plant is completed. Two employees will maintain the Alamosa facility when it is fully operational.