Part 3: “Blowing in the Wind”
11/25/09 - 03:52 PM
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Back in 2004, Coloradans went to the polls and put into law a requirement that electric companies get 10% of their power from renewable sources by 2015. For Xcel Energy, which provides power to over 1.3 million customers in Colorado, that decision changed the way the company operated.

“At the same time that people voted that in, we started getting feedback from customers that they wanted us to do something different,” according to Fred Eggleston, a spokesperson for Xcel. “Up to that point, we were focused on being reliable, and [providing] the least [expensive] power possible.” Although, since the vote in 2004, Eggleston says the company has been more focused on the environment.

According to Xcel, they’re well on their way to meeting the challenge to get more power from renewable sources. In 2007, the company even supported a decision by the state to up that amount to 20% by 2020.

“We as a corporation want to be in the best position, and at the same time we want to take care of our planet [and] our environment,” Eggleston told News Channel 5.

In 2008, Xcel says about 10% of their electricity came from renewable sources, mainly wind power. But even though utility companies may want to use wind energy, a major problem is that the wind just doesn’t blow all the time. Eggleston says a turbine only produces power about 30% of the time, making the source of energy highly unreliable. So, the company has invested millions into new technologies, including wind farms that transfer the power generated into a battery.

“The idea is that you generate with the wind, you charge the batteries, and then the batteries are providing a steady flow of electric generation into the grid,” according to Eggleston. For now, when the wind doesn’t blow, Xcel says they have to fire up standby coal or natural gas plants, a timely and expensive process.

But with more power coming from wind energy and other renewable sources such as solar and hydroelectric dams, what does that mean for you when it comes time to pay your electric bill?

“How this affects the customers’ rates and where will the picture be in the future… a lot of it depends on what kind of federal regulation we’re going to have. A lot of it depends on what the people decide they will want and elect,” Eggleston says.

So while wind energy has a promising future, there are still many questions to be answered, and many challenges to overcome.

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