[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: RE: 3 energy articles of interest

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Weaver, Sam


Craig,
 
Thanks for sharing your information.  Since your email list is not available to me, perhaps you can forward along the following post to it.  I am including Hotline on this email so that as many of those local community leaders and interested citizens can
 see the good news about the Austin municipal electric utility achieving a high penetration of renewables ahead of schedule and below expected costs.  I am certain that Boulder could follow that model were it to have the opportunity.  Hopefully Xcel can find
 a way to make some proposals in the near term that meet with the majority of the Boulder community's Energy Future goals.
 
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/03/austin-texas-approves-wind-power-agreement-to-achieve-renewables-goal-four-years-early?cmpid=BioNL-Tuesday-March4-2014
 
The Austin, Texas, City Council approved a wind power contract Feb. 27 that enables Austin Energy to achieve its goal of delivering 35 percent of all of its electricity from renewable sources four years ahead of its goal, the utility said in a news release.

 
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The contract with Lincoln Renewable Energy calls for Austin Energy to buy up to 300 MW of wind power for 18 years for $31 million a year. The price for the wind power is in the $26-to-$36/MWh price range, making it the least expensive wind purchase Austin
 Energy has ever entered into since it began contracting for wind power in the late 1990s.
 
The price is also lower than the $32/MWh average cost for all power in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in 2013 and will not increase customer bills, the utility said.
 
The new wind project consisting of 160 wind turbines will be built in Castro County, Texas and is projected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2015.
 
All the best,


 

Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov
Phone: 303-416-6130




From: Eicher, Craig L [Craig.L.Eicher at xcelenergy.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 4:57 PM
To: Eicher, Craig L
Subject: 3 energy articles of interest





Hello community leaders in Boulder County,

 
I’d like to share three articles with you today. The first reports on Xcel Energy’s announcement we have contracted to add 120 megawatts of central solar energy
 to our Colorado system. This is only two months after gaining PUC approval to add a total of 170 megawatts of central solar in Colorado.

 
Xcel approves $200 million solar power project in Pueblo County
The project will make-up the largest part of a 170 megawatt
 portfolio of solar generation approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in December, 2013,
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25271720/xcel-approves-200-million-solar-power-project-pueblo

 
The second article reports on the City of Philadelphia’s struggle to maintain its municipal gas utility.

 
Philadelphia
 mayor strikes deal to sell gas utility
 
The mayor told reporters that having the city own such a utility may have made sense at one time but "stopped
 making a lot of sense back in the '90s," since PGW can't expand its customer base outside the city and isn't as well positioned as a private company to take advantages of new opportunities.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/248204091.html

 
And, as I’ve reported in the past, Vero Beach, FL, is close to selling its electric utility to the neighboring investor-owned utility because of rate shock.
 
FPL proposes way to close
Vero Beach electric sale in January
 
The disparity between FPL and Vero electric rates amounts to roughly
 $20 million per year. FPL rates, which are the lowest in Florida, are a full 24 percent lower than Vero.
http://www.veronews.com/news/vero_beach/utilities/fpl-proposes-way-to-close-vero-beach-electric-sale-in/article_101f48b0-9a71-11e3-8482-0017a43b2370.html

 
As always, please let me know if you prefer to be left off my list for these updates. Thank you for reading,

 



Craig Eicher

Xcel Energy | Responsible By Nature


Area Manager, Boulder Region


2655 N 63rd St  
 Boulder, CO 80301


P: 303-245-2254   
 C: 303-827-4943    F:
 303-245-2292


E:
craig.l.eicher at xcelenergy.com


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