An administrative judge in the US state of Minnesota has ruled solar generation to be a better investment than natural gas for electric and natural gas utility, Xcel Energy.

The judgment is the first time in the US that unsubsidised solar energy has been officially ruled to be a better deal for ratepayers than natural gas in a competitive bidding process.

The competitive bidding of utility-scale generation projects was ordered by Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission to choose the most cost-effective projects to help Xcel reach what the commission said was an additional 150MW of new capacity needed by 2017.

via Solar beats natural gas in landmark US judicial ruling – PV-Tech.