Colorado’s main utility company is featured in a New York Times article for its embrace of solar and wind energy.
A Feb. 6 article outlines Colorado’s largest power company, Xcel Energy’s plans to replace two large coal-burning units with renewable energy and possibly some natural gas.
Xcel, which serves millions of electric customers from Texas to Michigan and in Colorado, asked for proposals to build power plants using wind turbines and solar panels. The bids came in so low that the company will be able to build and operate the new plants for less money than it would have to pay just to keep running its old-coal-burning power plants.
The article also touches on the fact that even though subsidies for clean energy are going to be phased out over the next couple of years, the costs for renewable technologies have decreased enough that by the time the subsidies expire, wind turbines and large-scale solar arrays will continue to be competitive.