Great Britain Is Sunnier Than Generally Believed; Xcel -- Cleaning Out Some Mail

Reminder: wells coming off the confidential list have been reported. EOG has two more huge wells; MRO reports a "high IP" well. 

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Everybody talks about the cloudy and rainy weather in Great Britain: that turns out be another myth, I guess. Bloomberg is reporting that Britain's largest solar farm exceeded expectations, generating 15% more electricity than forecast.

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Updates

October 13, 2016: you can't say that I don't follow up these articles. See note below about Minneapolis, Xcel, and CenterPoint. They all came together and signed an agreement in October, 2014. Story here.  Data points:

• unique agreement; first-in-the-nation
• 10-year contract, rather than the usual 20-year contract; city can end arrangement as soon as five years but with one year notice
• 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2015; 30% by 2030; and 80% by 2050

Original Post

 

We may hear a bit more from Xcel, the wind energy company, this week, how it responded to the natural gas pipeline rupture in Canada.

I was not aware of the other headwinds facing Xcel (Don doesn't miss much). From eenews.com last summer -- Minneapolis may drop homegrown utility and corporate citizen Xcel Energy:

Xcel Energy Inc., the investor-owned utility that has been championed for its commitment to wind power by clean energy advocates far and wide, is at risk of being dropped as the electricity provider to this city, which is its national headquarters. Among other reasons, it is accused of not being sufficiently pro-clean energy. [Minnesotans must love paying taxes and utility bills.]

The $14 billion Fortune 500 company, which operates in eight states and has provided electricity to Minneapolis for more than a century, faces the possible cancellation of a franchise agreement that allows it to provide power to an estimated half-million residents and businesses in Minnesota's largest city and the economic hub of the 3.3-million-resident Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

That was back in July (2013). I had not heard anything since but a google search resulted in this bit of news:

Unions and the business community joined forces Thursday to tell members of the Minneapolis City Council that they think it’s a bad idea for the city to take over the gas and electric utilities. The energy activists, though, also were out in force to say that a public takeover is an idea worth more study. After more than 50 speakers and three and a half hours of testimony, just about everyone at the public hearings had expressed an opinion except the folks who will vote to move ahead or drop the idea. City Council members did not speak during the session and will not vote on the matter until Aug. 15.

Apparently not everyone in Minnesota likes higher taxes and higher utility bills:

“I’m opposed to this takeover,” said Peter Dvergsten. “Between taking over the gas and electric utilities and streetcars back downtown, I don’t know which idea is the worst.”

“My pocketbook is running pretty close to empty,” he said. “My options are running out, but one of my options is to sell the house and move out. Where? I don’t know, but North Dakota is looking pretty good.”

Jerry Wendt was there for his condominium association, which is about to spend $330,000 to install solar panels on its roof.

“The only way we can do this is with Xcel rebates,” said Wendt, who added that the panels are scheduled for installation this fall. “We don’t want this to blow up in our faces.”

“The city will be exempt from rate controls,” said Larry Lura. “That’s going to pull more money from my pockets, and people like myself, who are in an marginal economy, can barely pay our own bills.”

Yes, the city would not have to abide by state utility regulations. 

Apparently, Xcel is still providing electricity to Minneapolis; I can't find news to the contrary. On November 5, 2013:

Xcel Energy Inc. is seeking permission to raise Minnesota electricity rates by 4.6 percent and 5.6 percent the next two years, saying the money is needed for a big push in infrastructure investment. [Wind, solar, transmission lines.]

Those hikes would amount to about $291 million, but the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has typically cut Xcel's rate increase requests in half in recent years. If granted in full, the increases would add about $10 on average to a customer's monthly bill.