President Trump's ACE rule would save each Minnesota household nearly $1,300 every single year compared to a grid that is heavily dependent upon intermittent wind and solar. Make sure to thank him on Twitter! ...
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Mortenson Construction is one of the largest renewable-energy construction firms in the country, but it appears the firm will be dolling out less "green" to their laborers. A recent story in the Star Tribune discusses how Mortenson will be employing remote-controlled bulldozers to prepare sites for wind turbines instead of hiring laborers to man the machines. The remote-controlled bulldozers will be first be employed on remote projects in Wyoming where worker housing and other logistical difficulties make automation economically attractive, but there's no reason to think it would be impossible for the company to begin using automated equipment in other areas...
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Xcel Energy wants to squander billions of your dollars on solar despite the fact that Minnesota is one of the worst places to build solar installations. ...
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The article below originally appeared in the Inforum, and it's spot on. Xcel's decision is about padding its ratebase, and thus its corporate profits, and if they have to team up with the environmental groups, then so be it. MINOT, N.D. — “Xcel Energy plans to shutter its two remaining coal plants in the Upper Midwest a decade earlier than scheduled — a move that will make the utility coal-free in the region by 2030,” Mary Divine reported for the St. Paul Pioneer Press this week. That’s big news. All the more so because it’s not the full measure of Xcel’s ambition. The...
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The failed wind turbine next to the St. Cloud VA hospital will finally be dismantled this summer after sitting idle since 2012. Now that the fate of this boondoggle is sealed, let's look at how the financials penciled out....
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Last week, Xcel Energy announced their desire to shutter the last of their coal-fired power plants a decade earlier than previously planned. If approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the plan would increase electricity costs for Minnesota families and businesses and produce zero measurable reductions in global temperatures. It would, however, result in handsome corporate profits for Xcel Energy, which would be a direct wealth transfer from everyday Minnesotans, who are forced by the government to buy their electricity from Xcel, to the company's shareholders. Minnesota's coal plants provide some of the lowest-cost electricity in the state. The graph below...
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According to data found in utility documents filed with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Xcel Energy earned $49.3 million in federal subsidies in 2016 from its wind facilities located throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. It's important to remember that the cost of wind energy in Minnesota is not just reflected in your monthly electric bill, but it also increases the amount of federal taxes you must pay. While $49 million is no doubt a significant chuck of change, it likely represents only a small amount of the federal subsidies doled out to wind producers in Minnesota because most of the wind...
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If you use less electricity, you should pay less on electric bills. Right?Unfortunately in Minnesota, that’s not the case, as electricity bills have increased by 8 percent even though we consume 10 percent less electricity than we did in 2007, and it will only get worse if “decoupling” becomes standard policy....
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Fresh Energy often claims wind is the cheapest source of electricity in Minnesota, but they rely on cherry-picked data to make their case. ...
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It's a great day for Minnesota families and businesses, as Senator Erik Simonson (DFL-Duluth) stated that he believes that provisions of the House Energy and Jobs omnibus bill that would mandate that Minnesota derive 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2050 should be left out of the current budget negotiations and reconsidered at a later date. What makes this statement so remarkable is that it was completely unprompted. In fact, the discussion previous to his comments about increasing renewable energy mandates were about the Line 3 oil pipeline. After making an initial comment about the pipeline, Senator Simonson...
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