Xcel solicits proposals for local wind projects (MN)

[jpak]

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/16921761.htm

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Xcel Energy is looking to buy more energy from locally owned wind projects to pump 200 more megawatts of electricity onto its grid by the end of 2008 and save ratepayers about $10 million a year.

The state's largest power producer put out a call Friday for wind-energy proposals for its Community-Based Energy Development, or C-BED, program, which the state Legislature created in 2005 to promote locally owned alternative energy.

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Minneapolis-based Xcel expects about 1,100 megawatts of its energy to come from wind-powered turbines by the end of this year, or about 11 percent of its total output. The company also plans on building a $210 million, 100-megawatt wind farm by 2009, which would be its first company-owned facility in Minnesota.

Under a state mandate signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Xcel must derive 30 percent of its energy from renewable resources like wind by 2020, while the state's other energy companies must get 20 percent from so-called green resources.

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