Xcel Energy has created a pilot project in Colorado, where they will be testing the capabilities of integrating solar power with a coal fired power plant.

Xcel (NYSE: XEL), Colorado’s largest power and natural gas utility, teamed with Abengoal Solar IST, a Spanish company that has its U.S. headquarters in Lakewood.

The project is the first in the United States to integrate an industrial-sized solar power plant into a conventional power plant, according to Abengoa.

The two companies broke ground Thursday on a $4.5 million, concentrating solar power plant at the Cameo coal-fired power station near Grand Junction. The test plant, when complete by the end of the year, will use mirrors aligned in a parabolic trough to concentrate the sun’s heat on pipes that hold fluid. The fluid will transfer the heat to water, producing steam to spin a turbine and produce electricity.

The test is to see if the sun-sourced steam can be used alongside coal-produced steam to run a power plant. The two companies also hope that using the sun’s heat will reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the power plant. The plant uses about 900 tons of coal per year, according to Xcel.

Xcel’s innovation could create a new way to produce clean energy.

Wisconsin’s investor owned utilities have all announced their second quarter earnings reports.  Here are links to each of the companies second quarter reports:

WE Energies

Alliant Energy

Madison Gas & Electric

Integrys Energy

Xcel Energy

A recent study by the National Association of Manufacturers predicts that the result of enacting Cap and Trade could cost Wisconsin 41,600-56,700 jobs.

A new study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) found widespread economic hardship in store for Wisconsin consumers and businesses if Congress adopts H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey global warming legislation.

The bill narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June, and is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate. Click here to view the full report and how it affects Wisconsin.

“Wisconsin citizens can expect higher electric bills, higher heating bills and higher gasoline prices if Congress passes the Waxman-Markey bill,” said James S. Haney, WMC President. “At a time when we are struggling to keep high-paying manufacturing jobs in our state, this bill would take us in the wrong direction with tens of thousands of additional lost jobs.”

Wisconsin consumers and employers would be hit disproportionately hard by global warming regulations because of the state’s significant investment in coal-fired electricity, and the state’s status as the single-most manufacturing intensive economy in the country. The study found that key Wisconsin industrial sectors, including papermaking, machinery manufacturing and other energy intensive industries, would lose thousands of manufacturing jobs as a result of higher energy costs stemming from Waxman-Markey.

As a coal dependent state with a heavy reliance on manufacturing, Cap and Trade could devastate Wisconsin.  Click here to contact yours Senators to oppose any bill that is not fair to Wisconsin and other state that rely on coal for energy.

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Wisconsin Utility Investors’ Annual Meeting of Members will take place on Thursday September 17th at the Brookfield Suites, located at 1200 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield, Wisconsin. Featured speaker will be Gale Klappa, Chairman, CEO and President of Wisconsin Energy Corporation. The program will include a panel discussion with representatives from all Wisconsin utility companies, and executives from the Edison Electric Institute and the American Gas Association. The event is FREE to all WUI members.

Click here to register online, or download the invite and mail it to WUI.
The Registration deadline is Friday September 11^th.

Madison Gas and Electric has applied for a US Department of Energy Smart Grid Grant.

Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) has applied for a Department of Energy grant to develop customer-driven smart grid programs in Dane County. Using smart grid digital technology will enhance MGE and its customers’ ability to save energy, reduce costs and increase reliability.

MGE’s proposal contains four major components:

- Install smart meters for many of MGE’s largest business customers and 1,000 residential customers to analyze energy consumption patterns and help inform customers on how to conserve energy, reduce emissions and save money. The smart meters also will provide better outage notification.

- Analyze in-home electric vehicle charging patterns and the effects on MGE’s power grid and evaluate time-of-use pricing options for electric vehicle customers. MGE would also expand its previously announced program for electric vehicle charging stations.

- Pilot ’self-healing’ distribution switches and feeders in an area of MGE’s service territory which would include the Dane County airport and MATC Truax campus. The smart distribution technology will restore power more quickly in the event of an outage.

- Develop an array of customer-driven service options that can be deployed as smart grid technology becomes more widely available.

If MG&E receives the funding, the $11 million project would begin January 2010.

Xcel Energy joins pilot project aimed at better forecasting of wind energy.

The world leader in environmental measurement, Vaisala, together with electricity and natural gas energy company, Xcel Energy, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have joined forces on a pioneering pilot project in the USA that will take observing and forecasting for wind energy production to the next level.

The goal of the pilot is to explore the use of a new wind observing and forecasting system in Xcel Energy’s wind power generation. The system will provide critical decision-making support for balancing wind power with traditional fossil fuel generation while minimizing costs and improving reliability. A primary focus of the effort is to develop technologies that will better anticipate changes in wind energy output from wind farms.

“This is a great opportunity for Vaisala to again demonstrate how we can provide observation systems for weather critical applications,” says Richard Pyle, head of Vaisala’s Wind Energy Market Segment.