The 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions will be powered with wind and solar energy.
Xcel Energy, which is supplying the energy for both conventions, made the announcement. Xcel will provide enough wind power through its Windsource program to offset the estimated 3,000 megawatt-hours that the conventions will use.
"We are pleased to provide clean, renewable power to the conventions because we want to display for the nation’s elected leaders and delegates what a 21st Century utility can look like," says Dick Kelly, CEO.
With approximately 70,000 residential and commercial customers in Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico, Windsource is the nation’s largest voluntary wind energy program, according to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory ranking.
The Windsource power for the national conventions primarily will come from Xcel Energy’s Ponnequin Wind Facility near the Colorado-Wyoming border and from a wind farm on southwestern Minnesota’s Buffalo Ridge. Additional power will come from a 10-kilowatt solar installation at The Pepsi Center in Denver, and from a 10-kilowatt solar installation at the High Bridge Generating Station in St. Paul, Minn. The Denver solar installation is part of Xcel Energy’s Solar*Rewards program, which provides incentives for customers to install solar panels on their home or business.
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