solar power

Xcel Energy Tuesday released an ambitious plan to achieve the state-mandated Colorado Renewable Energy Standard (RES) of 20 percent of the utility’s energy base load from renewable sources by 2020.
The 10-year plan, according to a release from Xcel, will add more than 257 megawatts of solar with on-site installations for residential and commercial customers. The [...]

Gov. Bill Ritter Tuesday praised Xcel Energy for pulling back its plan to charge homes and small businesses with solar arrays a surcharge to help the company defray the costs of building new transmission lines.
As Xcel continues to be pressured to expand the state’s transmission grid to farther flung areas to accommodate growth in utility-scale [...]

Colorado-based ski industry leader Vail Resorts is the state’s top purchaser of renewable-energy credits (RECs), according to a recent report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the company ranks 25th in the nation.

News this week that Colorado could one day be home to the nation’s largest concentrated solar power plant — a facility of at least 200 megawatts near Pueblo — comes as welcome news to an energy sector faltering right along with the rest of the economy.

But some critics say continuing to artificially mandate renewable energy simply drives up the price of coal- and gas-generated electricity, which still provides the vast majority of power in Colorado.