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Xcel Energy investing in 17MW solar power plant

By Dan Haugen | 04/08/09

Xcel Energy is partnering to build a solar power plant in Colorado using solar panels that tilt toward the sun as it moves across the sky.

The 17-megawatt power plant will be the second-largest "solar tracking" facility in North America, according to a press release from SunPower, a solar manufacturer that is partnering with Xcel on the project.

Solar tracking systems generate up to 30 percent more energy per land area than conventional systems and limit land-use requirements.

Xcel Energy is the nation's fifth-largest utility provider of solar power. Much of that investment has been in Colorado, not Minnesota, because of that state's aggressive incentives to encourage solar power.

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Comments (1)

Submitted by Bernice Vetsch on April 8, 2009 - 1:00pm.

What has happened to the idea of producing electricity at the point of use? As in, zillions of solar panels across millions of rooftops across America and smallish wind towers within neighborhoods.