Excited about that $180 million high-voltage power line that Xcel and Tri-State are working together on? Hold your horses, writes Cathy Proctor in the DBJ. An environmental study on the line’s surrounding terrain should take between six and ten months, meaning the spring 2013 hoped-for completion may not be feasible.
Xcel, Tri-State line needs environmental study
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Tags: Tri-State Generation and Transmission, Xcel Energy
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Xcel wants to test “time of use” program
5 11 2009Xcel Energy would like to test a new “Time of Use” pricing program on about 2,000 homes in Boulder. From the DBJ’s Cathy Proctor:
Called “Time of Use” pricing, the program is intended to send a better signal to customers about how the price of electricity changes through the day — higher during peak demand times and lower at other times. It’s also intended to curb electricity consumption when demand for power — and the price of power — is at its highest.
Prices of electricity under the proposal for the pilot program would swing from a low of 4 cents per kilowatt hour to a high of nearly 54 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on when it’s used, Xcel said.
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Tags: time of use pricing, Xcel Energy
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Ampulse closes $8M funding round
5 11 2009Golden-based solar cell manufacturer Ampulse Corporation recently finished an $8 million Series A funding round. More information in Rocky Radar.
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PureVision Technology in Green Tech Meetup
4 11 2009Fort Lupton-based PureVision Technology is featured in the October Colorado Green Tech Meetup Blog, posted this week.
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Tags: Colorado Green Tech Meetup
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Xcel’s rate hike request draws critics
4 11 2009Xcel Energy’s proposal for a $177 million rate increase – about $5 per month for the average residential bill – is drawing criticism, including for the $110 million the company is requesting to pay for its 750-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Pueblo
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Tags: Xcel Energy
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Rocky Mountain Clean Tech Open winners named
4 11 2009Congratulations to New Sky Energy, Rivertop Renewables and SunTrac Solar, named last night as the winning teams of the Clean Tech Open’s Rocky Mountain region. In addition, Boulder-based Cool Energy won the Sustainability Award for the region. From the press release:
New Sky Energy: Boulder-based New Sky Energy (www.newskyenergy.com) is the world’s first carbon negative chemical manufacturing company. The firm’s revolutionary technology captures and converts carbon dioxide into feedstocks, like soda ash and limestone, which are used in glass, plastics, building materials, fabrics and other products.
Rivertop Renewables: Based in Missoula, Montana, Rivertop Renewables (www.rivertop.com) is innovating a new category of science – “Progressive Chemistry.” Merging proven science with renewable resources, Rivertop Renewables is creating an abundant and economical supply of sustainable and safe chemicals and bioproducts. Rivertop products are biodegradable and built from renewable plant sugars.
SunTrac Solar: SunTrac Solar (www.energisticsystems.us) of Golden, CO, the only high temperature solar collector heat product manufactured in the United States, provides a long-term, cost effective solar solution for heating residential and commercial hot water. SunTrac reduces utility costs by up to 80% while taking up only half the space of current panel designs. The patented system tracks the movement of the sun, collecting 50% to 70% of the available solar energy to heat hot water up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cool Energy: Cool Energy of Boulder (www.coolenergyinc.com) was selected the winner of the regional sustainability award. Cool Energy has developed a clean heat and electrical power generation system for homes and small buildings that runs solely on solar fuel and reducing energy bills by as much as 75%. The main innovation is called the SolarHeart® Engine which converts any source of heat into usable electricity. In addition to solar applications, the engine can generate electricity from biomass and waste heat sources.
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Tags: Cool Energy, New Sky Energy, Rivertop Renewables, Rocky Mountain Clean Tech Open, SunTrac Solar
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Study: Colorado 16th most energy-efficient state
2 11 2009Colorado is doing the 16th-best job in energy efficiency in the United States, up from 24th previously, according to a survey by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The Denver Post’s Mark Jaffe has the details.
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Colo. gets $18M in geothermal grants
30 10 2009The Department of Energy announced $338 million in geothermal energy grants today, and Colorado companies, schools or agencies will get $18 million of that money. The Denver Business Journal’s Cathy Proctor has a list of who will benefit.
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Tags: geothermal energy
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Two Colo. cities to get smart grid money
28 10 2009As part of the Obama Administration’s $3.4 billion smart grid plan, Pueblo ($6.1 million) and Fort Collins ($18.1 million) will receive money for meters in around 120,000 homes.
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Tags: Fort Collins smart grid, Pueblo smart grid, smart grid
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Vestas hiring to increase more slowly
28 10 2009Not a big surprise: Vestas said that a weak third quarter for wind projects means it will ramp up to its expected Colorado employment level of 2,500 slower than originally thought. From Mark Jaffe at the Denver Post:
“At the moment, the U.S. market is characterized by excess capacity, which results in non-attractive prices and conditions on certain projects,” Vestas said in its earnings report.
“The upgrading of the staff at the new factories in the USA will consequently take place in line with the order intake,” the company said.
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Tags: Colorado green jobs, Colorado renewable energy jobs, Vestas
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