
Solar energy faced off against natural gas in a courtroom this week, and the greener of the two came out on top.
Minnesota administrative law judge Eric Lipman recommended a solar project to help Xcel Energy, one of the state's largest utility, provide 550 megawatts (MW) of new electricity generation by 2020. Lipman could have selected one of five natural gas projects instead, but he realized Geronimo Energy’s Aurora Solar Project was the better deal.
“It’s the first time that solar’s gone head-to-head with gas facilities in this sort of a proposal and has received this sort of a recommendation," Betsy Engelking, Vice President of Geronimo, told the St. Cloud Times.
Geronimo's project is a 100-MW distributed solar project, spread across 20 to 25 farms in 18 counties. Each site would be 2 to 10 MW.
The $250 million project will not receive state subsidies, but qualifies for a federal investment tax credit, according to Climate Progress. If approved, construction on the farms would begin in 2015.
"[Aurora Solar] will have numerous socioeconomic benefits, minimal impacts on the environment and best supports Minnesota's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases," Lipman wrote in his 50-page ruling.
Geronimo estimates 800 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs. The farms, expected to have 60 to 70 solar panels, would take four to nine months to build.
"[Solar energy] has always been better for our environment ... rulings like this one in Minnesota are proving that it's better for our pocketbooks too," Greenpeace spokesman David Pomerantz told AlJazeera America.
"Electric utilities around the country should embrace the solar revolution that their customers are increasingly demanding, or they risk becoming fossils themselves."
Visit EcoWatch’s RENEWABLES page for more related news on this topic.
New EarthX Special 'Protecting the Amazon' Suggests Ways to Save the World’s Greatest Rainforest
To save the planet, we must save the Amazon rainforest. To save the rainforest, we must save its indigenous peoples. And to do that, we must demarcate their land.
A new EarthxTV film special calls for the protection of the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people that call it home. EarthxTV.org
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Anke Rasper
"Today's interim report from the UNFCCC is a red alert for our planet," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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In a historic move, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted Thursday to ban hydraulic fracking in the region. The ban was supported by all four basin states — New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York — putting a permanent end to hydraulic fracking for natural gas along the 13,539-square-mile basin, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
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Colombia is one of the world's largest producers of coffee, and yet also one of the most economically disadvantaged. According to research by the national statistic center DANE, 35% of the population in Columbia lives in monetary poverty, compared to an estimated 11% in the U.S., according to census data. This has led to a housing insecurity issue throughout the country, one which construction company Woodpecker is working hard to solve.
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