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Xcel Energy Backs 20% Renewable
Energy Requirement
February 21, 2007
Xcel Energy announced that it supports increasing the Colorado
renewable energy requirement to 20%. Company spokesman made the
announcement to reporters last week in interviews about
HB-1281, which passed the House Energy and Transportation Committee
unanimously on February 13 and is now headed to the House
Appropriations Committee. HB-1281 would require electricity
suppliers to generate 20% of their power with renewable energy
resources in 2020.
See and online article about the
bill published in the February 16 edition of Planet Ark that was
written and distributed by Reuters News Service titled “Colorado
Bill Would Double Renewable Energy Supply.”
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40376/story.htm
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter
has made support for renewable energy a centerpiece of this
administration and backs HB-1281. The bill is sponsored by Colorado
Representatives Jack Pommer, (D-Boulder) and Rob Witwer (R-Genesee).
Colorado State Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) is sponsoring the
bill in the senate, where she has lined up 18 co-sponsors, including
two Republicans.
The bill is getting national
attention. SNL Energy published an online article about it in the
February 15 edition of its Renewable Energy Weekly titled “Colorado
Legislature’s Momentum Builds for Passing Renewable Energy Laws.”
http://www.snl.com/interactivex/article.aspx?CdId=A-5356468-10593
CRES member and Interwest Energy
Alliance President Craig Cox noted that the wind industry is booming
in Colorado and is on track to bring more than $1 billion of
investment to the state. This figure will certain continue to grow
if HB-1281 passes the Colorado Legislature. Cox said, "This bill
puts the exclamation point on Colorado's leadership ambitions in
renewable energy."
The bill also sets a renewable
energy requirement for electric cooperatives for the first time.
Amendment 37 exempted cooperatives from the state’s current
renewable energy of 10% by 2014. According to an article published
in the February 7 edition of the Rocky Mountain News, HB-1281 is
receiving support from a number of the cooperatives. Unlike
Amendment 37, the coops in the windy areas of the state on the
Eastern Plains appear to be lining up to support this bill. And
unlike the net metering bill (see above), no one appears to have yet
hired lobbyists to oppose HB-1281 in the legislature. Read the
article that was written by Gargi Chakrabarty and titled “Bill Aims
to Increase Renewable Energy for State.”
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5333474,00.html
Cox published an article in the
February 5 edition of Renewable Energy Access that summarizes the
slow, patient political progress that renewable energy has made over
the last several years. Read the article online that is titled,
“Focus on the states: Colorado; the Rocky Mountain state shows it
takes collaboration and persistence to become a renewables leader.”
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47335&src=rss
Cox also published recently the
Renewable Energy Highlights for 2006, which are his picks for the
top ten stories for the year. This year the Cox Top Ten includes
Xcel Energy, which Cox credited for taking on a national leadership
role on renewable energy acquisitions. See the Cox Top Ten for 2006
at:
http://www.interwest.org/documents/highlights/2006/index.html
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