For the first time, the Democratic and Republican national conventions will receive electric power from the same utility company, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL), which said it will produce enough renewable energy to offset the estimated 3,000 megawatt-hours that the conventions will use.
Xcel Energy, which recently announced plans to make Boulder Colorado the nation’s first smart-grid city, is the nation’s No. 1 wind power provider according to an American Wind Energy Association ranking. Xcel will produce wind and solar power to offset the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St.Paul and the Democrats in Denver.
With approximately 70,000 residential and commercial customers in Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico, Xcel’s Windsource program is the nation’s largest voluntary wind energy program, according to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory ranking.
"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," said Dick Kelly, chairman, president and CEO of Xcel Energy. "In addition to renewable energy, we offer customers incentives for energy conservation and we’re reducing emissions from our facilities. We’re moving forward to make a real difference."
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.
"Energy policy is an issue that both political parties should discuss at their conventions and beyond," Kelly said. "We are ahead of the curve in our policies and actions because we are dedicated to reducing our impact on the environment and providing the leadership to make a difference in the communities we serve."
Renewable portfolio standards in Minnesota and Colorado are some of the nation’s most aggressive, and Xcel Energy is on track to meet both. By 2020, Minnesota requires 30% of the company’s electricity supply to come from renewable sources, up from 14% currently, and Colorado’s standard is 20% by 2020, up from 10%. Last fall, Xcel Energy filed aggressive resource plans in Minnesota and Colorado, proposing to increase its use of clean generating resources and decrease its reliance on fossil fuels.
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