Xcel wants solar power boost (CO)

[jpak]

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/12/04/daily14.html

Xcel Energy Inc. said Tuesday it's looking for 7,000 megawatt-hours of solar power from commercial customers who can put photovoltaic panels on their rooftops or land in Colorado.

The company is looking for projects that can generate between 100 kilowatts and less than 2 megawatts of capacity -- projects that are too large to perch on top of houses.

Xcel (NYSE: XEL) is based in Minneapolis. It's Colorado's largest utility serving about 1.3 million electric customers in the state.

The request for proposals is on top of a June RFP Xcel issued seeking 13,000 megawatt-hours of solar power. That RFP generated 66 bids. Xcel is negotiating with bidders now and contract announcements are expected in January, according to an Xcel spokeswoman.

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[NMDemDist2]

1. in Colorado??? why not in New Mexico where the sun shines a LOT

I am an Xcel customer so why aren't they doing it here?

*sigh*

but anything is better than nothing I guess.....

[kestrel91316]

3. Well, the sun shines an awful lot in CO, too. I know. I lived there.

[NMDemDist2]

4. true, except when you have to shovel the snow off the panels

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

5. In the winter the panels' angle is sufficient (especially if they're on

a tracker) for the snow to slide off once the sun is shining and the panel underneath gets the tiniest bit of warmth, I suspect.

And with a tracker, I think you could just tilt the panels temporarily to vertical if a big storm was on the way.

[NMDemDist2]

6. cool! so no reason why we can't take advantage of the sun in both

states then

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

7. Hell, there's almost noplace on earth that gets too little sun for

solar to be useful...........

[whistle]

2. PV installations run between $5.6 million to $7.3 million per megawatt

....so the cost of 7,000 megawatts peak capacity would run from $39.2 billion to $51.1 billion. In addition to the estimated system capital costs, annual operations and maintenance (O&M) costs were calculated for each system option at the rate of $0.005/kWh. Annual O&M includes periodic system testing and analysis, cleaning of modules, and other routine O&M functions. Supposedly, the breakeven point for PV is $0.167/kWh based on the above factors. My utility presently charges $0.09275/kWh up to 1,000 kWh and $0.11275/kWh for all usage over 1,000 kWh. Solar panels would thus have to come down in price by at least 44.5% to make economic sense here in Orlando Florida. On the other hand if fossil fuel were to rise by 74.5% or more, say to $110.00 per barral or higher, the go decision based on pure economics would be a no brainer.