In the News
Xcel Energy showing clean energy a win for utilities, consumers, environment
January 24, 2018 / St. Cloud Times By Annie Levenson-Falk Ben Fowke, the president and CEO of Xcel Energy, recently announced an ambitious plan to cut the utility’s carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030. To reach that goal, Xcel Energy will double down on clean energy. It plans to generate 60 percent renewable energy by…
Sustainable: Planners charting Minnesota’s energy future
January 2, 2018 / Finance & Commerce By Frank Jossi Energy generation from wind and solar has grown significantly in Minnesota. Utilities have announced the retirement of thousands of megawatts of coal plants in the next decade. Popular technologies such as electric vehicles, sophisticated thermostats, battery storage and rooftop solar hold great potential to produce…
Has Xcel Minnesota designed the ideal residential time-of-use rate?
December 22, 2017 / Utility Dive By Herman K. Trabish The pilot program, to determine if price signals can get customers to shift energy usage away from peak times, has garnered wide acclaim. The main concern? it doesn’t start soon enough. Some say pilot projects are a way to avoid the risk of real innovation,…
Discussion of local energy future reveals choices you can make today
November 3, 2017 / Rochester Post-Bulletin By Randy Petersen A peek at Rochester’s energy future was a bit hazy Thursday. The four panelists on the UMR Connects panel agreed many questions and constraints remain while the city is tied to a Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency contract for electricity generation through 2030, but they…
Public weighs in on Minnesota Power rate case
June 20, 2017 / Duluth News Tribune By John Myers Bashed in recent weeks by the state attorney general, the state Department of Commerce and the mining industry, Minnesota Power’s proposed electric rate increase this week was opened to bashing by the general public as well. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is holding hearings on…