Wind Power
Xcel Energy is the nation's No. 1 wind power provider.
Throughout much of our service territory, we find some of the finest wind regimes in the country. As a result, at the end of 2009, we had more than 3,000 megawatts (MW) of wind energy capacity in service system-wide. We expect to more than double our wind resources by 2020.
For four consecutive years, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has named Xcel Energy the nation’s No. 1 wind power provider. Today, wind energy is 8 percent of our energy mix and by 2020 we project it will be about 20 percent of our energy. Of the nation's more than 25,300 megawatts of wind energy, Xcel Energy owns or purchases more than 3,000 megawatts of capacity online. Colorado was ranked sixth with nearly six percent of the state’s power coming from wind. Minnesota ranks first in the country with more than 7 percent of the state's power coming from wind energy. The full annual rankings report for year-end 2008 is available: American Wind Energy Association Annual Rankings Report (333 KB PDF)
We are the leader in offering our customers choice in buying renewable energy, we’ve invested in wind’s future through development projects that address wind’s intermittency, and we have paved the way for other utilities to embrace wind as part of their energy mix.
Windsource®
For more than a decade, Xcel Energy has played a pivotal role in the commercialization and advancement of wind energy. Launched in 1998, our Windsource program has grown to be the largest voluntary green-energy program in the United States in terms of customer participation, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Windsource has held this spot for six consecutive years. Through the program, customers can specify that part or all of their electricity be generated by the wind. If you are an Xcel Energy electricity customer in Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota or Wisconsin, you can purchase Windsource wind power for your home or business. Sign up for Windsource
Wind-to-Battery Project
In November 2008, we began testing cutting-edge technology to store wind energy in batteries. We are testing a 1-MW battery-storage technology using a sodium-sulfur battery to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed. This is the first test of this technology for wind energy storage in the United States. The battery can store about 7.2 MWh of electricity, and when fully charged, the battery can power 500 homes for a period of seven hours. Our partners in the project, located near Luverne, Minn., include the University of Minnesota, NREL, the Great Plains Institute, GridPoint and Minwind Energy LLC. (Wind-to-battery fact sheet)
Wind-to-Hydrogen Project
Xcel Energy and NREL also are working on a unique project that uses electricity from wind turbines to produce and store pure hydrogen. The project’s goal is to overcome the intermittent aspect of wind energy by enabling energy storage for later use when the wind isn’t blowing or the demand for electricity is high. The hydrogen can be stored and used later to generate electricity from either an internal combustion engine turning a generator or from a fuel cell. (Wind-to-hydrogen fact sheet, Video)
Wind Studies
Xcel Energy is helping fund a number of studies through major state universities in Colorado and Minnesota and through other organizations to further address intermittency and dispatch concerns associated with wind energy. We are working with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, NREL and the Department of Energy to provide highly detailed, localized weather forecasts to better integrate wind power into the power grid. The forecasts will help operators make critical decisions about powering down traditional coal- and natural gas-fired power plants when sufficient winds are predicted, enabling the increased use of alternative energy. Findings through this effort and others will be available to the utility industry, helping to cultivate the use of wind energy on a larger scale.
Additional Resources
For more information about Wind Energy, visit the following resources:
Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin (the NSP System)
As of year-end 2009, we had 1,265 megawatts (MW) of wind energy on the NSP system to serve our customers in Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. We acquire most of this power from power purchase agreements with wind farm owners, most representing facilities in southwestern Minnesota. All together, we have more than one hundred of these agreements in place, with facilities ranging in size from under 2 MW to more than 200 MW. In 2008, we added our first Xcel Energy-owned wind project in Minnesota, the Grand Meadow Wind Farm (fact sheet).
In 2008, we also announced plans to develop and own an additional 351 MW of wind energy in Minnesota and North Dakota by 2011.
Colorado (the PSCo System)
We are proud to have built Colorado's first commercial wind farm in the late 1990s, our 30-megawatt Ponnequin Wind Farm in northern Colorado.
Since then, we have grown our use of wind power in Colorado to 1,258 megawatts (MW) through power purchase agreements with wind farm owners.
In late 2009, the 174-MW Northern Colorado Wind facility came online. It is one of five facilities now located along Peetz Table, an area that has grown to provide more than half of Colorado’s wind power. Wind developer Nextera built and owns the Northern Colorado Wind facility, and we purchase the output, enough power to serve about 50,000 of our customers annually.
Texas and New Mexico (the SPS System)
The Texas Panhandle where we operate possesses some of the best wind resources in the country. As of 2009, we had 443 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity on our SPS system that we purchase through long-term purchase power agreements with wind farm owners. We also are required to purchase another 210 MW of wind power from qualified generating facilities. We also help distribute wind power for other utilities, providing transmission services for about 193 MW.