By Art Mass

‘Ask and you shall receive’ is the mantra for Xcel Energy - at least when it comes to the response from renewable energy investors to the utility’s green makeover.

Xcel has been adding wind power to its arsenal of electricity-producing technologies in Colorado for about 12 years. Dozens of turbines on wind farms along our state’s eastern plains now contribute more than 1000 megawatts of power to Xcel’s transmission capabilities. Xcel offers its customers the opportunity to support its Windsource program by purchasing their electricity at a small premium each month. The extra money helps fund the company’s
alternative energy research and development.

Nearly 46,000 Xcel customers are currently enrolled in the program, with the average subscriber paying an additional $10-$20 per month on their electric bill (about $3 per 100-kilowatt-hour block). “Obviously, we can’t run special lines to Windsource customers’ homes,” said Steve Mudd, Xcel’s project manager for Windsource. “All our power goes into the same system. But we’ve been amazed at the demand from residences and businesses. Especially businesses.
People clearly are supporting our alternative energy efforts.”

Mudd said the Colorado Windsource program is reaching its
current capacity, but still accepts most who wish to subscribe.
“Right now we are letting people still enroll, except for large
business customers,” he stated. “If they want more than
10,000-killowatt hours per month, we’re putting them on a
waiting list.” Xcel is hoping to be able to expand its
production of wind power in the near future.

This year Xcel asked for bids for up to 150 megawatts of wind power projects and has received more than 15 times the capacity they originally sought - 2,400 megawatts of acceptable bids from 16 project developers. The utility is negotiating with the bidders and will select the projects in coming months, said spokesman Mark Stutz. The PUC still would have to approve the contracts. Xcel expects the projects to be in service by Dec. 31, 2012.

Clean Energy Action Response

The strong response to the bidding process tells us what we know,
according to Leslie Glustrom, a founder of the nonprofit group
Clean Energy Action. “Companies are ready to take advantage of
Colorado’s wind and solar resources, and they are putting solid
bids on the table.”

Glustrom believes Xcel is definitely headed in the right
direction with Windsource, though there is more to be done.
“It’s not ideal,” she stated. “But it does send an important
message. It’s very important that people can take part. It
doesn’t cost much - you get most of what you spend back, in your
Fuel Cost Rider adjustment.”

“This is the new energy economy, this is where our jobs will be,
and we will build the state’s economy around it,” Glustrom said.

Xcel initially received bids for wind projects worth 2,785
megawatts, but rejected 400 megawatts for various reasons. Stutz
said the utility considers factors such as cost, location,
access to transmission and the developer while evaluating bids.

A small, but hopefully soon to be growing part of Xcel’s energy
menu is solar power. Amendment 37, which Colorado voters passed
in 2004, requires Xcel to provide 20 percent of its energy
transmission through alternative technologies by 2020. “Part of
that has to come from solar power,” Mudd explained. “We have an
8 megawatt facility in Alamosa that came on line last year.”
Compare this with the nearly 1,100 megawatts of wind power
produced in Colorado. Most of Xcel’s support for solar has come
from rebates given to homeowners and businesses that install
solar power systems, thereby lessening the demand on the
company. To date, approximately $40 million has been paid out.

Stutz said Xcel will ask for 675 megawatts worth of wind and
solar projects in addition to up to 600 megawatts of large-scale
solar projects that allow storage, such as concentrating solar
power plants.

Wind and solar account for more than 10 percent of its
electricity sales, and Xcel hopes to hit 20 percent by 2015 -
five years ahead of target.