You know there's an energy crisis when even the energy companies are turning to alternative energy.
Xcel Energy Inc., a Minneapolis-based energy firm, runs a healthy business, with more than 3.3 million electricity and 1.8 natural gas customers in 10 states, and revenues of $10 billion annually. But about a year ago, company executives found themselves facing a troika of problems: increasing energy demands, decreasing resources, and a little issue called global warming. "We realized we had an obligation to behave in a manner that balances shareholder, regulatory and community priorities," says
Michael Carlson, Xcel's vice president and CIO.
So Xcel came up with a plan: Use technology to identify which customers would be candidates for alternative energy. In partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, "we started applying some modeling technologies that combine NREL's weather and environmental data with our grid generation and consumption data," Carlson says. The modeling tool, called the Renewable Planning Model, is being used to determine exactly which kinds of alternative energy are best suited for specific customers.
By using NREL's satellite terrain imagery to determine solar irradiation on rooftops, for example, Xcel can determine where, and how strongly, the sun shines on Xcel customers. With that data, the company can calculate where solar panels should be placed, how large they need to be to generate the most power, and how that power generation might affect Xcel's own energy grid.
Read the full story on CIOInsight.com: Technology: Can IT Help Utilities Lower Commercial Energy Costs?
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