Minnesota isn’t exactly the first state that comes to mind when most people think of solar, but the Lone Star State and its associated utility companies are making significant strides toward a renewable energy future: Xcel Energy, the Minneapolis-based utility company that services a wide swath of Midwestern states—including Colorado, another burgeoning state for solar—unveiled yesterday [...]

Minnesotans looking to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) system have reason to be hopeful for the New Year. As we reported on this blog in June, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy has been developing plans to introduce in Minnesota their Solar Rewards program, its solar rebate initiative already on offer in Colorado and New Mexico. If the [...]

A little over a week ago, Xcel Energy publicized details of a three-year program to conserve energy. Under the so-called Conservation Improvement Plan, the Minneapolis-based utility aims to save over 1,100 gigawatt hours of energy between 2010 and 2012. As reported by Reuters, The company said in a release the plan would save money for [...]