Reported by Ann Rascalli

LOUISVILLE - Responding to Xcel Energy’s 2010 solar Compliance Plan submitted to the Colorado PUC last week, the state’s leading solar industry trade group said the plan highlights the need to increase the state’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES)-along with making other forward-thinking policy changes to foster a sustainable renewable energy industry statewide.

 ”We applaud Xcel’s efforts to move forward under the existing framework; it’s clear a large shift is required to continue providing new green jobs in Colorado, and to increase renewable energy across our state,” said Beth Hart, Executive Director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA).

Xcel’s new renewable energy plan calls for adding an additional 257 megawatts of solar power to the grid from on-site sources such as customer rooftops in the next decade. The details of the proposed Solar Rewards program were outlined in a larger plan Xcel filed with the state PUC that maps out how the utility company intends to comply with the state-mandated renewable energy standard of producing 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. The overall ompliance plan also calls for 700 megawatts of new wind power and about 350 megawatts of utility-scale solar power plants, according to Xcel.

Last year, Xcel announced its intention to cut the Solar Rewards program — which gives rebates to customers who put photovoltaic panels on their property — by about 50 percent from 2009 to 2010. After an outcry from solar advocates, Xcel worked with the Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association and the Governor’s Energy Office to revise its plan.

The new program will give rebates to more people over time, though the amount of rebates will decrease.

“This is a huge improvement,” said RJ Harrington, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for Boulder-based Simple Solar. “We are very pleased. We feel that this is keeping the wind under our sails. We applaud Xcel’s efforts to move forward under the existing framework; it’s clear a large shift is required to continue providing new green jobs in Colorado, and to increase renewable energy across our state.”

Describing Xcel’s Energy plan to reduce solar incentives in quick successive steps over coming months, Hart said: “The plan offers more transparency in the declining incentive “staircase”, and there are efforts to offer more clarity to the marketplace by smoothing the design and pace of the step reductions.  Xcel, the Governor’s Energy Office and CoSEIA are creating a process that is fair, transparent and workable.”

Xcel’s new renewable energy plan calls for adding an additional 257 megawatts of solar power to the grid from on-site sources such as customer rooftops in the next decade. The new program will give rebates to more people over time, while the amount of rebates will decrease.

“This is a huge improvement,” said RJ Harrington, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for Boulder-based Simple Solar. “We are very pleased. We feel that this is keeping the wind under our sails.”

The revised Solar Rewards approach is to increase the amount of solar energy on the grid while decreasing the incentives over time.

“We applaud Xcel’s efforts to move forward under the existing framework; it’s clear a large shift is required to continue providing new green jobs in Colorado, and to increase renewable energy across our state,” stated CoSEIA’s Executive Director Beth Hart.

The Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) worked with Xcel Energy and the Governor’s Energy Office on the outlines of the Compliance Plan which was submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission

“We are pleased to see important concepts included in the plan to grow the number of solar installations on Colorado rooftops,” Hart said.  CoSEIA and prospective solar customers had been very concerned about forecasts previously published by Xcel Energy in the 2009 Compliance Plan; predicting a steep drop in solar incentives for 2010.  The newly-released Compliance Plan reveals Xcel’s plans for continuing to offer financial incentives under the Solar*Rewards program, avoiding the anticipated “solar cliff”.

Describing Xcel’s Energy plan to reduce solar incentives in quick successive steps over coming months, Hart said: “The plan offers more transparency in the declining incentive “staircase”, and there are efforts to offer more clarity to the marketplace by smoothing the design and pace of the step reductions.  Xcel, the Governor’s Energy Office and CoSEIA are creating a process that is fair, transparent and workable.”