Xcel may pump billions into wind power

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5740928,00.html

Xcel Energy Inc., owner of utilities in Denver and Minneapolis, may invest billions of dollars to boost wind power capacity to take advantage of rising demand for cleaner energy.

Xcel, based in Minneapolis, wants to increase the wind power farms it operates, rather than buying output from other power producers, Chief Executive Officer Dick Kelly said Tuesday. It is targeting adding more than 1,000 megawatts through the year 2020.

Xcel distributes electricity from wind farms that have about 2,800 megawatts of capacity, of which it owns a fraction, or 25 megawatts. Xcel is investing about $210 million to build a farm in Minnesota capable of generating about 100 megawatts.

Wind power investment "will probably be in the billions of dollars," Kelly said at the Edison Electric Institute financial conference in Orlando, Fla. "That's how we grow the company."

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