How A Bad Hair Day Helped Power Your Home & Set Records For Xcel Energy
DENVER (CBS4) - Do you remember the high wind that blew through Colorado earlier this month?
Denver International Airport recorded a peak gust of 40 mph that day.
While you were reaching for the hair spray before stepping outside, that wind was helping power the lights at your home and office.
On Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, Xcel Energy set a new record for providing power through wind generation.
In fact, they were able to power more than half of their entire system with wind power for more than 24 hours.
In addition they also set a new record for hourly wind generation.
Between 3-4 p.m. on Oct. 2 the wind produced 2,352 megawatt hours. The previous record was 2,203 megawatt hours set between 5-6 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2014.
"For the first time, wind generation supplied more than half of our customers' energy for an entire day, reaching a daily average of 54 percent," said Drake Bartlett, senior trading analyst in Xcel Energy's Commercial Operations area. "Most notably, wind energy served more than 50 percent of our customers' load every hour that Friday, except during the last hour of the day when it served about 49 percent of the load."
Xcel Energy is the nation's largest provider of wind energy according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Meteorologist Chris Spears writes about stories related to weather and climate in Colorado. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.