Wind generating a double-digit share of Colorado’s power supply

Wind energy is climbing across the United States, with 11 states in 2015 getting at least 10 percent of their total electricity from wind farms, according to the U.S.. energy Information Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy. Just five years ago, only three states had at least 10 percent of their electricity produced by wind farms, the EIA said. In Colorado, 14 percent of the power produced in the state came from wind, the EIA said in a report Wednesday. The leader was Iowa, which had 31 percent of the state’s power coming from wind farms. In Texas, the state where 24 percent of the nation’s wind-based electricity is produced, saw renewable energy make up 9.9 percent of its overall electricity generation in 2015. Nationwide, the percentage of wind-based power in the portfolio has risen every year since 2001, the EIA said. During 2015, wind power reached 4.7 percent — more than double its share in 2010, when the percentage hit 2.3 percent. And it’s still climbing this year. Through July, wind has produced 5.6 percent of the nation’s electricity, the EIA said. EIA credited the increase in U.S. wind power to “a combination of technology and policy changes.” The technical improvements have been seen in the wind turbines themselves, which can produce more power, and also via increased access to transmission capacity to carry the renewable energy from rural areas that host the wind farms to urban areas where the electricity is used. State and federal policies have also helped, such as the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Wind Production Tax Credit, the EIA said. State level policies, including renewable energy goals such as Colorado’s 30 percent by 2020 goal for its large, investor-owned utilities, also have led to more wind farms being built. Other renewable energy sources also produce a lot of power in some states. Hydropower, which in 2015 was still the most common type of renewable energy, made up at least 10 percent of electricity supplies in 10 states in 2015, including more than two-thirds of Washington state’s power supply.

Xcel's Colorado solar settlement nets broad support as regulators eye approval next month

The PUC is still considering the settlement, announced in August, but advocates say it has broad support and regulators did not raise major concerns at a recent hearing. “The settlement’s low-income solar provisions really demonstrate Xcel Energy and Colorado’s national leadership on energy access and equity issues,” GRID Alternatives Colorado Executive Director Chuck Watkins said in a statement. If approved, Xcel will expand low-income customer access to solar energy by by dedicating a portion of its rooftop and community solar garden capacity and Solar*Rewards Program to serve that segment. Other low-income provisions include additional consumer protections, rebates and incentives to reduce bills, expanded job training and efficiency. “The new programs would reduce the energy cost burden of our most vulnerable ratepayers and generate co-benefits like job training opportunities in the fast-growing renewable energy sector," Watkins said. The plan adds 225 MW of solar to the utility's Solar*Connect program, which is a green energy rider that will be renamed Renewable*Connect, and provides for development of 105 MW of community solar gardens with capacity set aside for low-income customers. But the Renewables*Connect program is one area where not everyone is in agreement. Erin Overturf, a senior staff attorney for Western Resource Advocates who helped shape the settlement, expressed doubts over the impact of the green rider program to Utility Dive earlier this year. “The Renewables*Connect (R*C) program is one of the big things Xcel got in the agreement and but solar advocates still argue the regulated utility is trying to compete in the unregulated market,” Overturf said. “It may in some ways compete with some solar developers’ products but it is also distinguishable in other ways. Only time will tell if customers see value in it.”