A new wind-power project by Duke Energy Corp. on Colorado’s Eastern Plains will supply electricity to customers of Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the state’s second-largest power supplier.
The wind farm is to be build by Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), with power supplied to Westminster-based Tri-State under a 20-year power-purchase agreement, Duke said.
MORE: New York Times spotlights Tri-State, Duke wind-power plansDuke said it will develop the 51-megawatt Kit Carson Windpower Project on 6,000 acres near Burlington under a long-term lease. The project will be the company’s first in Colorado and fourth in the region.
The project is expected to start commercial operation by the end of 2010.
The Kit Carson project will consist of 34 GE wind turbines, each capable of generating 1.5 MW of electricity, Duke said.
“We’re proud to be partnering with Duke Energy on our first utility-scale wind power project,” said Ken Anderson, Tri-State executive VP and general manager, said in a statement released by Duke Monday. “The project will further diversify our resource mix, bring value to our member cooperatives, and support jobs and investment in the rural areas our members serve.”
Tri-State announced April 10 it would shift its focus from building more coal-fired power plants to natural gas, renewable energy and efficiency.
It was a major change of policy for Tri-State, which supplies wholesale power to 18 electric-distribution cooperatives in Colorado and 26 in Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska. The utility’s two-year-old resource plan had called for the construction of 2,100 megawatts of new coal-fired power plants by 2012.
Critics had blamed nonprofit Tri-State for not embracing alternative energy in its future plans, the way investor-owned utility Xcel Energy has.
Ritter supported Tri-State’s policy change, telling Tri-State’s board: “You deserve a lot of credit for making efficiency, renewables and new technology investments a high priority as you look for new and better ways to provide affordable and reliable electricity to your rural customer-owners.”
Tri-State has said it also plans to develop a 30-megawatt, 500,000-panel solar photovoltaic power plant in northeastern New Mexico by late 2010.
denver and the west
Six Colorado schools will be given turbines
Will provide cheap energy and propel science education.
State and federal grants will give six schools a chance to harness the winds that buffet their walls year-round.
The schools — five on the Eastern Plains and one in northern Colorado — will be fitted with wind turbines as part of the Wind for Schools Program, aimed at providing cheap energy for the buildings and boosting science education.
“We hope to do something innovative and creative and to spur new ideas,” said Wellington Middle School counselor Bill Peisner, who brought the wind-turbine proposal to administrators and students.
The school in Wellington, north of Fort Collins, was the only Front Range campus to apply for a turbine. The school wants to use its machine as part of a math-and-science kiosk that examines the potential uses for wind power.
The turbine is to be installed in October, near the school’s football field.
“I really don’t think our kids know what to expect,” Peisner said, “but once it’s installed, I think the idea will start flowing.”
The other schools getting a turbine are Stratton, Flagler, Walsh and Burlington high schools, and Kit Carson Junior/Senior High School.
The program is a joint venture of the Governor’s Energy Office, U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Colorado State University.
The Southwest Windpower Skystream 1.8 kW turbines will generate only a small share of each school’s electricity. They’ll produce about 300 kilowatt-hours per month, or about the amount of power a small home uses monthly, said Mona Newton, central region representative for the Governor’s Energy Office.
But the next-generation windmills will be invaluable teaching tools to get get rural kids interested in the growing field of windpower, officials said.
“It’s a great fit for our area in that wind is something we deal with all of our lives around here,” said Kyle Hebberd, superintendent of the Walsh School District. “It’s great to see it finally put to some productive use.”
The turbines cost $12,500 to $15,000 each. The Governor’s Energy Office and NREL are contributing $5,000 and $2,500, respectively, to buy the Renewable Energy Credits generated by the turbines. The school districts chip in the rest.
Peisner said the Wellington school is getting grants to supplement what the Poudre School District is giving for its turbine.
“It’s a timely project for the country,” he said, “so the grant writing for the turbine has gone really well.”
JACKSONVILLE, FL — Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc. announced a partnership with three Jacksonville job training and placement agencies to train displaced workers as solar energy installation and maintenance technicians.
This new partnership is a first step in Solar Energy’s Renew the Nation campaign intended to promote job growth and economic development nationwide by providing a trained workforce to enter the fast growing renewable energy industry. The program, pending final approval by the Jacksonville City Council, is being funded in part by $396,000 in federal stimulus dollars provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Joining Solar Energy in this job training collaborative is Community Rehabilitation Center (CRC), Northeast Community Action Agency (NFCAA) and WorkSource. Solar Energy is providing the training curriculum and materials, while CRC will manage the program and NFCAA and WorkSource will supply the trainees.
The training facility, to be called CRC Institute, will be located at Pearl Plaza at the corner of North Pearl and 44th streets. The first class is anticipated to begin in late October.
“CRC is proud to join forces with Solar Energy, WorkSource and NFCAA,” said Reginald Gaffney, CRC’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This collaborative program will help train people who have lost their jobs due to the downturn in economy and prepare them for the new green economy.”
Added Solar Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, David Fann, “The rapidly growing solar market requires a knowledgeable workforce with expertise in both construction and installation practices. Through this partnership, we will be preparing trained and valued workers for the solar industry.”
Solar Energy’s business model focuses on three fronts:
•Solar Parks. Development of large utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations bringing together landowners, utilities and corporate resources to build and operate.
•Solar Power Purchase Agreements (SPPA). Placing solar systems on or adjacent to commercial or municipal buildings and selling the energy output to the owner(s).
•Solar Dealers. One of the fastest growing independent dealer networks that sells and installs solar systems to homeowners and commercial customers.
FREMONT — Giving a timely boost of stimulus to this city in the wake of the news that the giant NUMMI plant will close, and helping to cement the Bay Area as a center of the clean-tech industry, solar-panel maker Solyndra said Friday it would use a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government to build a factory here that will ultimately employ 2,000 people.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu came to Solyndra’s headquarters just off Interstate 880, joined by Vice President Joe Biden via satellite, for the announcement that the company will construct a $733 million solar-panel manufacturing plant that would add thousands of blue-collar jobs to the Bay Area’s workforce.
“In these tough times, what we need more than anything is jobs, jobs, jobs,” Schwarzenegger said.
Solyndra’s announcement, aside from burnishing the Bay Area’s reputation as a center for innovation in the clean-technology industry, also indicates that companies can not only design and market their products here, but also build them, creating so-called “green-collar” jobs that will help replace the thousands of blue-collar jobs lost in this region over the decades.
These newly created positions should help ease the blow of the loss of 4,700 jobs at the nearby New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant, which announced last month that it would shut next year.
The first part of the new solar-panel plant, being powered by the $535
Advertisement
million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, will employ 1,000 people. A second phase would employ 1,000 more, said Ben Bierman, Solyndra’s vice president of operations. Solyndra now employs 600.The Solyndra factory’s initial phase will create 3,000 construction jobs. The plant will also spin off hundreds of jobs installing solar panels.
“These jobs are going to be permanent jobs,” Biden said. “These are the jobs of the future. These are the green jobs. These are jobs that won’t be exported. These are the jobs that are going to define the 21st century.”
Solyndra’s deal is the first loan from a federal program that will ultimately offer $30 billion in guarantees to clean-tech companies, Biden said.
The plant would be Solyndra’s second factory and will rise near the company’s headquarters, and first plant, along Interstate 880. It should open by late 2010 and begin shipments in 2011.
“It is a much-needed boost for our local economy,” Fremont City Councilwoman Suzanne Lee Chan said. “To have this kind of good news a week (after the NUMMI announcement) is fantastic.”
Federal officials say the solar panels produced at the new factory will provide enough energy for 24,000 homes a year, as well as reduce carbon emissions.
“We will not only be able to contribute to the new innovation economy, but also help to ignite a new era of green industrialization,” said Chris Gronet, Solyndra’s chief executive officer and founder.
Yet Solyndra’s growth plans extend well beyond the plant launched Friday.
This new factory will be about 1 million square feet. Solyndra wants to build a third factory of 2 million square feet, and Bierman noted the NUMMI site may be a good fit.
“We would have to look at it carefully,” Bierman said, “but we wouldn’t know until we got in there.”
Schwarzenegger used the event to call on the state Legislature to approve Assembly Bill 1111. The proposal could make it easier for clean-tech firms to operate in California by exempting from sales taxes new manufacturing equipment for clean-tech companies.
“The key thing is not to lose those jobs,” the governor said in an interview with this paper Friday. “If workers are used to building cars, they can be retrained. If they are handy, if they have the knowledge, they can be retrained to build solar or some other green technologies.”
Solyndra comes to market with an innovative design, making cylindrical solar cells that resemble fluorescent bulbs. It uses a combination of elements — and not silicon — to create the semiconductor material used in its photovoltaic solar cells. And it targets a specific market — the flat roofs atop thousands of commercial buildings around the world.
“If you build a better solar panel, the world will beat a path to your door,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “Building a better solar panel is what Solyndra has done.”
Solyndra has raised about $820 million in venture capital, and has a backlog of $2 billion in contracted orders. The company came out of stealth mode in late 2008.
Mercury News staff writer Matt Nauman contributed to this story.
Green Jobs Training: Emerging Opportunities To Leverage Stimulus Dollars
A centerpiece of the stimulus package is an effort to put 3 and 4 million people back to work over the next two years.
The site Recovery.gov includes a map of the U.S. with the estimated jobs expected under the Recovery Act superimposed over each state. California leads with 396,000 anticipated jobs, while North Dakota and Vermont expect the least job growth with 8,000 each.
I’v been curious to better understand who is leading the charge on training the workforce for the wave of new green jobs we are expecting. Are companies taking the lead? Federal agencies or state governments? It seems to be a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. If you deploy training programs without partnering with business, you will have a trained workforce, but no jobs. And if you create the jobs, but neglect workforce development, critical shortage of specialists in growing professions could occur.
According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the major barriers to a more rapid adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency in America are insufficient skills and training.
According toGreen for All one of the leading non profits working to promote green jobs and build the green economy, the Recovery Act invests nearly $4 billion in training and employment services and a good portion of that — $500 million — will go specifically to “research, labor exchange and job training projects to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and
renewable energy industries.”
Green for All reports that, “The challenge of finding qualified workers is particularly pronounced in the energy-efficiency and renewable-energy industries, as they are new fields requiring new skills. That is why the Recovery Act specifically targets these industries with the $500 million Energy Efficiency and Renewable Worker Training (EERWT) Program. The available funds can be used for research, labor exchange, and job training projects that get workers ready for entering “green collar” industries.”
AmeriCorps State and National Recovery Act Assistance–$201 million: Current AmeriCorps grantees are eligible for the additional funding. Among the jobs that AmeriCorps personnel may do are job training and counseling activities and constructing and rehabilitation of housing and other buildings.
Department of Labor Employment and Family Services Job Corps Centers–$250 million: Up to 15% of these funds can be allocated to training programs for careers in renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental protection.
Housing and Urban Development Tribal Governments–$40 million: This money is set aside to train tribal members in skills associated with the building trades such as pipefitting and plumbing, as well as training in environmental protection and renewable energy.
Workforce Investment Act (WIA)–$3.95 billion: Of the $3.95 billion, $2.95 billion is provided for formula grants to the States for training and employment services with no specific “green” requirements. Of the remaining $1 billion, $750 million has been set aside for a program of competitive grants for worker training and placement in high growth and emerging industry sectors such as green jobs and health care.
California and Massachusetts take the lead
Massachusetts just awarded $1 million new green job training grants to develop vocational programs in the cleantech sector through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The grant winners will work with at least two clean energy companies each in developing curriculum and instruction materials. While specific to each institution, programs will train high school, college, low-income individuals, workers in the trade industries and clean energy employers to perform tasks in energy efficiency retrofitting, solar photovoltaic and heating system installation, wind energy, green building and clean energy policy fields.
California’s Green Corps is investing at least $10 million in federal economic stimulus funding from the U.S. Department of Labor and an additional $10 million from public-private partnerships to develop a 20-month pilot program reaching at least 1,000 of California’s at-risk young adults. All programs will be public-private partnerships that include green job training, a stipend, an educational requirement and community service.
Green for All’s New Capital Access Program
Green For All’s new Capital Access Program (CAP) focuses on creating, sustaining and scaling green jobs in the U.S, with an emphasis on building the capacity of green businesses and non-profits. Their new report, A Business Guide to the Recovery, is a resource to help businesses identify opportunities to leverage Recovery Act investments to bring the green economy to scale.
They will be hosting a webinar on September 9, 2009 at 4pm EDT to highlight emerging opportunities to leverage stimulus dollars and to offer examples of best practices from across the country.
According to the new report, “ARRA doesn’t direct any funds specifically to federal apprenticeship programs. Still, states are trying to find ways to create economic incentives for employers to provide more on-the-job training.”
I agree with the take home message from the new Green for All report–business must take a leadership role and partner with non profits to pursue innovative strategies to lift America out of this recession.
Perhaps clean tech investors should encourage start-ups to integrate workforce development partnerships into their business plans, so when businesses are ready to rapidly scale up, skilled workers are ready to go.
***
Deborah Fleischer, founder and president of Green Impact, a strategic environmental consulting practice that helps companies identify key environmental issues, strengthen their relationships with stakeholders, develop profitable green initiatives and communicate their successes and challenges.
Since majoring in environmental studies in 1983, Deborah’s career has focused on environmental issues in both the public and private sectors. She is an expert in sustainability strategy, stakeholder engagement, program development and written communications.
DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–U.S. Bank is testing a new home equity loan and line of credit program in Colorado that offers customers a three-eighths percent rate reduction for qualified “green” home improvement projects.
Energy efficient or “green” improvements include: insulation, windows, doors, roofing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water heaters, biomass stove, ground source heat pumps, solar energy systems, small wind energy systems and fuel cells. In addition to qualifying for a reduced rate loan or line, many of these home improvement projects may qualify for tax credits.
“U.S. Bank is firmly committed to creating environmentally friendly products and services that help our customers do what so many of them want to do instinctively – protect the environment,” said Lisa O’Brien, director of environmental affairs at U.S. Bank. “We launched a green auto loan in April and have had an outstanding response. We expect our green home equity loans and lines will be equally popular, and most importantly, will result in making a positive impact on the environment.”
“U.S. Bank collaborated with State Representative Joe Miklosi, State Senator Gail Schwartz and the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) for this program,” said Hassan Salem, president of U.S. Bank in Denver. “U.S. Bank chose to pilot the program in Colorado based on the state’s commitment to promoting energy efficient home building and because Coloradoans are known for their love of the outdoors and green living. There has also been increased consumer interest in tax incentives and rebates.”
“We know that how we build and improve our homes today directly influences how we consume energy tomorrow,” said Tom Plant, GEO director. “U.S. Bank’s launch of this pilot project is a further endorsement of Governor Bill Ritter’s vision to increase affordability and accessibility of the New Energy Economy to citizens throughout the State.”
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $266 billion in assets, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 6th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 2,850 banking offices and 5,173 ATMs in 24 states, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions.
The utility goes to the PUC with a proposal to add 980 megawatts from solar and wind generation.
By Mark Jaffe The Denver Post
Posted: 08/11/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 08/11/2009 09:36:59 AM MDT
Xcel Energy on Monday proposed adding nearly 1,000 megawatts of solar and wind power to its energy portfolio by 2015.
That is equal to a medium-sized coal-burning plant and enough energy to power 750,000 homes.
The utility filed its plan with the Public Utilities Commission.
Under state law, Xcel must generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. It currently generates 10 percent of its electricity from renewables.
Xcel issued a call for projects and received 113 bids offering a total of 21,150 megawatts, according to the filing.
“We analyzed all the bids and selected a group that we believe meet our future needs,” said Joe Fuen tes, an Xcel spokesman.
The selected projects are still confidential pending PUC approval, Fuentes said. The commission has 45 days to comment.
Xcel chose projects that would provide:
• 700 megawatts of wind and a solar photovoltaic generating capacity.
• 280 megawatts of concentrating solar technology, which uses mirrors to focus the sun’s heat to create steam to turn turbines and can store heat in fluids.
Last year, the utility also added about 170 megawatts of wind power, part of Xcel’s long-range plan to add renewable power.
The renewable resources will be backed up by 900 megawatts of existing natural-gas turbines, the filing said.
In March, Xcel said forecasts showed a “significant reduction in demand” for electricity and cut its projected 2015 energy need by 6 percent to about 6,400 megawatts.
In a PUC filing, however, the company said that would not reduce its plans for adding renewable energy sources.
The proposed renewable portfolio would cut Xcel’s emissions of carbon dioxide — a gas linked to climate change — by about 14 percent to 29 million tons in 2015, according to the filing.
Many of the details of Xcel’s proposal are still confidential.
“This makes it hard for now to evaluate what they are proposing,” said John Nielsen, energy-program director at Western Resource Advocates.
NEW YORK — Despite a well-publicized oversupply of products and excess manufacturing capacity for solar photovoltaic equipment and components, some solar power industry watchers are still predicting further robust growth in production capacity. But financial analysts fear numerous makers may fail over the next few years.
President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Grants to Accelerate the Manufacturing and Deployment of the Next Generation of U.S. Batteries and Electric Vehicles
Further accelerating the manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, and components here in America, and creating tens of thousands of new jobs, President Obama today announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects, selected through a highly competitive process by the Department of Energy, will accelerate the development of U.S. manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles, helping to establish American leadership in creating the next generation of advanced vehicles.
“If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future,” said President Obama.
“For our nation and our economy to recover, we must have a vision for what can be built here in the future – and then we need to invest in that vision,” said Vice President Biden. “That’s what we’re doing today and that’s what this Recovery Act is about.”
The announcement marks the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made. Industry officials expect that this $2.4 billion investment, coupled with another $2.4 billion in cost share from the award winners, will result directly in the creation tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. battery and auto industries. The new awards cover the following areas:
$1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity;
$500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce electric drive components for vehicles, including electric motors, power electronics, and other drive train components; and
$400 million in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations in several dozen locations; to deploy them and evaluate their performance; to install electric charging infrastructure; and to provide education and workforce training to support the transition to advanced electric transportation systems.
Today, President Obama visited Navistar International Corporation, in Elkhart, Ind., to make the announcement. Navistar will receive a $39 million grant to manufacture electric trucks which the company reports will ultimately will create or save hundreds of jobs when full scale manufacturing at the site commences. Overall, seven projects in Indiana will receive grants totaling more than $400 million. The applications from the companies and from one university engaged in this technology research anticipate that these awards will create or save thousands of jobs.
Vice President Joe Biden and four Members of the Cabinet, also fanned out across the country to discuss the historic announcement.
Vice President Biden was in Detroit to announce over $1 billion in grants to companies and universities based in Michigan. Reflecting the state’s leadership in clean energy manufacturing, Michigan companies and institutions are receiving the largest share of grant funding of any state. Two companies, A123 and Johnson Controls, will receive a total of approximately $550 million to establish a manufacturing base in the state for advanced batteries, and two others, Compact Power and Dow Kokam, will receive a total of over $300 million for manufacturing battery cells and materials. Large automakers based in Michigan, including GM, Chrysler, and Ford, will receive a total of more than $400 million to manufacture thousands of advanced hybrid and electric vehicles as well as batteries and electric drive components. And three educational institutions in Michigan, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University in Detroit, and Michigan Technological University in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula, will receive a total of more than $10 million for education and workforce training programs to train researchers, technicians and service providers, and to conduct consumer research to accelerate the transition towards advanced vehicles and batteries.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu, whose Department selected the 48 award winners, visited Celgard, in Charlotte, NC, to announce a $49 million grant for the company to expand its separator production capacity to serve the expected increased demand for lithium-ion batteries from manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Celgard will be expanding its manufacturing capacity in Charlotte, NC and nearby Aiken, SC, and the company expects the new separator production to come online in 2010. Celgard expects that approximately hundreds of jobs could be created, with the first of those jobs beginning as early as Fall 2009.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was in St. Petersburg, FL, to announce a $95.5 million grant for Saft America, Inc. to construct a new plant in Jacksonville on the site of the former Cecil Field military base, to manufacture lithium-ion cells, modules and battery packs for military, industrial, and agricultural vehicles.
Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation John Porcari visited East Penn Manufacturing Co., in Lyon Station, Penn., to award the company a $32.5 million grant to increase production capacity for their valve regulated lead-acid batteries and the UltraBattery, a lead-acid battery combined with a carbon supercapacitor, for micro and mild hybrid applications. East Penn Manufacturing is a third-generation family business with over 63 years in battery manufacturing.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited Kansas City, Missouri, to announce a $10 million grant for Smith Electric to build and deploy up to 100 electric vehicles, including vans, pickups, and their “Newton” brand medium duty trucks. In addition, Secretary Locke announced three other grants supporting manufacturing and educational programs in Missouri: a $30 million grant to Ford Motor Company supporting the manufacturing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in Kansas City and in Michigan; a $73 million grant to Chrysler, for the manufacturing of 220 plug-in hybrid and electric pickup trucks and minivans in St. Louis and in Michigan; and a $5 million grant to Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, Missouri, to fund educational and workforce training programs on advanced vehicles technologies.
Bowing to public pressure, Xcel Energy Inc. on Tuesday backed off, for now, its proposal to institute a minimum monthly fee for customers who get most — or all — their electricity from solar power panels perched on the roof of their home or business.
The new charge wouldn’t have affected any current customers using self-generated solar power, only those who installed solar panels after April 2010. The proposal was part of Xcel’s rate case, a series of proposals for pricing electricity, filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in May.
But the idea of charging solar customers a monthly minimum — to cover the cost of connecting the solar panels to the grid — drew a storm of protest from the Denver-area solar power installation businesses, their customers and supporters including the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO).
With a public hearing before the PUC looming on Wednesday evening, Xcel on Tuesday told state regulators it was dropping the idea.
“We made this proposal in good faith as a reasonable approach to provide for a fair allocation of costs and benefits between customers with solar panels and customers without solar panels,” said Karen Hyde, VP of rates and regulatory affairs for Xcel’s Colorado division, known as Public Service Co. of Colorado. “However, we appreciate that the proposed rate mechanism has caused significant customer confusion.”
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, who has touted his “New Energy Economy” platform since campaigning for his office, applauded Xcel’s decision to drop the proposal.
“We appreciate Xcel’s concerns about the cost of distributing power and maintaining the electric grid, and we will work with Xcel to study these issues moving forward,” Ritter said in a statement. “The New Energy Economy has become a key bright spot in the state’s overall economy. We must do all we can to encourage growth as we lead Colorado toward a new energy future.”
Ritter said in the statement that he believed Xcel’s new minimum monthly bill, if implemented, would have been a disincentive for customers to buy solar panel arrays, stifling job growth, inhibiting future economic development and penalizing those voluntarily invested in clean energy.
Ritter said the GEO will analyze the costs and benefits of “distributed generation,” such as rooftop solar systems installed across a wide area, so that state regulators can use that information when deciding the costs and benefits of the rapidly growing sector.
According to Xcel’s proposal and calculations, the average residential customer in Boulder with a 4.5 kilowatt solar power system on his or her roof would have been charged about $1.90 per month, or $22.80 per year. But the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (CoSEIA) estimated that solar power customers in other areas, such as Evergreen, could have paid $200 or more per year.
“It didn’t work,” CoSEIA President Beth Hart said of Xcel’s proposal. “And I’m glad that Xcel is saying that this isn’t working, but something needs to work.”
At the end of June, 5,661 Xcel customers had solar power panels on their roofs. Of those, 3,000 customers, on average, pay nothing for their back-up electricity due to net metering systems, Xcel spokesman Tom Henley said.
Net metering occurs when a customer’s solar panels send extra electricity onto the grid. That energy is ‘netted’ against electricity a customer uses at night or on cloudy days, when the sun isn’t shining. Customers sending more power to the grid than they use roll the net month-to-month and get a check for the balance at the end of the year.
Since many solar-powered customers don’t have a monthly bill, they don’t pay embedded costs for things such as power plants, transmission lines, or equipment upgrades at power plants that are aimed at improving air quality, Henley said.
They also don’t pay fuel costs associated with generating electricity at night, or pay into the “Solar*Rewards” fund that Xcel uses to pay rebates for new solar power systems, Henley said.
Solar*Rewards is funded through a special rider on customers’ monthly bills, amounting to 2 percent of the bill. Between March 2006 and the end of June, Xcel has paid out $86 million through the fund in rebates for new solar power systems and renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy.
“We need to sit down to discuss the most appropriate way to deal with this issue, which we see as growing in the future, and address it for all parties involved,” Henley said.
Xcel’s announcement said it was committed to talking with solar power advocates to address the issue of costs and payments in the future.
And CoSEIA’s Hart said she was willing to start the conversation.
“Consumers are becoming more energy efficient and going down the road more and more to be renewable and to put solar systems on their home,” Hart said. “Any time these things happen, Xcel is losing money because their bills drop.
“We want the utility as backup power. That makes the most sense as an Xcel rate payer, as a Coloradoan, and as a nation. We want our utilities to stay viable. The question is how can we do that,” Hart said.
“I truly believe this conservation is not rocket science,” she said. “Let’s talk about some flat fees, not convoluted calculations that don’t work.”
DENVER — Solar energy customers are worried a new fee proposed by Xcel Energy would punish new customers for getting solar panels.
The monthly fee. which would pay for distribution and transmission of energy, would go into effect in April 2010 and would have to be paid to Xcel, regardless of whether the solar customer used any electricity that month. Customers who got solar panels before April 2010 would not have to pay the fee.Tom Henley, an Xcel Energy spokesman initially told 7 News that implementing the fee would level the playing field for electricity users who are currently subsidizing connectivity fees for solar users, who sometimes use no electricity in a given month and therefore, pay no electrical fees.
“We just don’t think it’s fair that customers that don’t have solar panels on their homes should subsidize these solar panel customers any further,” said Henley.But when pressed, Henley admitted that currently, no Xcel electric customers pay extra to fund solar connectivity fees. In reality, Xcel absorbs those fees. The money from the proposed fee would not go into the pockets of electric customers, but would go back to Xcel.Henley said the fee is a preventative measure to ensure that, down the road, solar customers do not get free rides.“What we’re looking to do is stop that, avoid that occurrence from happening,” he said.Mike Jacoby, who installed solar panels on the roof of his home two years ago, bristled at the notion that he is not doing his part.Jacoby said the installation cuts his monthly electrical fee by anywhere from 33 to 50 percent a month. In return, his home acts as a power plant, generating energy for Xcel that can power some of the homes on his block.“Mine are generating enough to feed five or six houses around me electricity, so there’s no free ride,” said Jacoby.“That’s less energy that Xcel Energy has to produce. That’s less coal that they have to burn,” agreed Dan Ferguson, a solar consultant with Vibrant Solar.Ferguson said solar companies planned to speak out against the proposed fee.In an email, Beth Hart, the executivve director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (CoSEIA) called the fee a “misplaced charge,” and said, “What Xcel didn’t include in their cost analysis were the benefits of PV (photovoltaic) to the electrical grid.”Henley said the fee would add up to, on average, about $1.90 more per month than solar customers currently pay.But Ferguson, and members of CoSEIA worried that the fee would be much higher. Ferguson said his understanding of the charge was that it would be a flat rate based on what a solar customer paid in electrical fees in a given month.Henley disputed that, saying some solar customers who used a sufficient amount of electrical energy each month, would never have to pay the connectivity fee.The Public Utilities Commission will make the final decision about the fee. A public hearing is scheduled from 4:00-6:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 5.
By 
A centerpiece of the stimulus package is an effort to put 3 and 4 million people back to work over the next two years.
