Comments on: Xcel Energy — 2-Faced On Value Of Solar Power

By: NRG4All

NRG4All — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 20:07:00 +0000

The real battle is do we have decentralized electricity production, or a centralized source, or a blend? The utilities are fighting to preserve their monopoly on electrical generation. I tend to think that regulators need to think in terms of a blend. Centralized is good for a base load and decentralized PV helps shave the peaks.

By: apostasyusa

apostasyusa — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:16:00 +0000

Electricity providers are in a panic. Solar and wind is the future of generation and they know it. The democratization of energy is in the making and nothing is going to stop it.

The energy industry tried to delay it for good with GW Bush but alas, they were just holding back a wave.

Storage and ancillary power services are the way forward for these companies. If they don’t get on it now, they are going to be irrelevant.

Electricity is the future of energy. Let’s generate it as cleanly as possible.

By: Ivor O'Connor

Ivor O'Connor — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 15:46:00 +0000

This is hard to read. First paragraph says Xcel states solar provides no value. Last paragraph is presented as contradicting the first but instead gives Xcel quotes about why nuclear would be good. I’d like to understand this article but I’m having difficulty.

“Two weeks ago, I listened – incredulously – to Minnesota’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, suggest that solar energy offers its ratepayers no value as an environmental hedge against carbon emissions or as a price hedge against natural gas fuel price fluctuations.

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But just three days later, Xcel was singing a different tune [docket pdf] to the state’s public utilities commission. In fact, the utility was touting the benefits of its nuclear power capacity, because (in the words of James Alder of Xcel Energy):”