Green Power in the News

Juhl Wind announced the official start-up and operation of the two-turbine, 4.95 megawatt (MW) GL Wind project for Gunderson Health System in Winona County, Minnesota. The GL Wind Project is a wind project that was developed specifically to address the energy demands of the Gunderson Health System. The GL Wind project is part of Gunderson Health's Envision program, which seeks to develop a portfolio of innovative green energy projects.

IKEA officially turned on a PV solar installation located at its Cincinnati-area store in Westchester, Ohio. IKEA partnered with REC Solar to develop and install the 128,000 square-foot, 1,026 kilowatt system, which consists of 4,186 PV panels that will generate over 1.3 million kilowatt-hours of renewable solar electricity for its Westchester store.

Green Mountain Energy has been selected to supply green power for Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana. Green Mountain Energy will supply 15,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy certificates (RECs) for all six major Super Bowl facilities. The purchase is the equivalent to the electricity use for Lucas Oil Stadium, site of the Super Bowl, the Indiana Convention Center, site of the NFL Experience Football Theme Park, and all four of the major NFL hotels, including the NFL headquarters, the Super Bowl Media Center, and the AFC and NFC team hotels. The purchase comes from wind generated in North Dakota.

The Climate Registry draft of "General Reporting Protocol 2.0" is now available for public comment. The General Reporting Protocol outlines the policies of The Climate Registry and required reporting calculation methodologies. This draft incorporates all previous updates and clarifications as well as updates to The Climate Registry's voluntary reporting program and includes new guidance on accounting for renewable energy certificates (RECs). Participation in a green power program should be accounted for in Scope 2 (indirect emissions) calculations, while unbundled RECs can be applied to an inventory through a separate adjustment. The Climate Registry is accepting public comments on the draft through close of business February 17, 2012.

Salt River Project (SRP) is opening its Community Solar program to business customers, allowing businesses to purchase solar power from the 20 megawatt Copper Crossing Solar Ranch, located in Florence, Arizona. The Copper Crossing Solar Ranch currently provides solar power for homes and schools, and about half of Copper Crossing's generated solar power will be allocated for business customers. Beginning in February 2012, business customers will be able to purchase solar electricity through the Community Solar program at a fixed rate of 9.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), over a 10 year period.

New Jersey Resources Clean Energy Ventures (NJRCEV) has completed a 14.1 megawatt (MW) solar installation on McGraw-Hill's East Windsor, New Jersey campus. The solar array is expected to produce 18.4 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, providing renewable electricity for McGraw-Hill's offices in East Windsor. In addition to the McGraw-Hill installation, NJRCEV completed a 3.6 megawatt (MW) solar project at Manalapan Township , New Jersey, the remaining 25 percent of a 4.7 MW solar system in Vineland , New Jersey, and a 1.3 MW rooftop installation in Edison, New Jersey.

The City of Ithaca, New York signed a 2-year power purchase agreement with Integrys Energy Services to purchase 100 percent of the city's electricity consumption from renewable energy sources. Beginning in January 2012, Ithaca will begin purchasing Green-e Energy certified renewable energy certificatess to match all of its electricity use.

The 9-megawatt (MW) PaTu Wind Farm, a local wind farm located in Sherman County, Oregon has signed two long-term power purchase agreements to sell its renewable energy certificates (RECs) to OneEnergy Renewables and Seattle City Light. OneEnergy Renewables, a Seattle-based REC marketer, will purchase PaTu generated RECs through 2015. Seattle City Light, Seattle's municipal utility, will begin purchasing PaTu RECs in 2016.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dedicated two solar sites located in Huntsville, Alabama and Dyer, Tennessee, which began generating solar power in early December. The solar projects include a 23 kW installation at the Huntsville Botanical Garden, and a 19.7 kW installation at Gibson County High School, located in Dyer.

The City of Olympia, Washington has approved five new community solar projects, which will be installed at the Hands on Children's Museum, City Hall, the Olympia Community Center, Fire Station #4, and Fir Street Reservoir. The projects will be deployed through a nine-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Thurston Solar Management (TSM), a joint venture of PureSolar and Tangerine Power.

Green House Data increased its purchase of renewable energy by 100 percent in 2011. This increase expands the company's annual green power purchasing to 1.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh). In 2011, the company was recognized to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Power Leadership Club, which recognizes organizations that have significantly exceeded the EPA Green Power Partnership's minimum green power purchasing requirements.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) approved NC GreenPower's new carbon offset price plan. The updated price plan doubles NC GreenPower carbon offset blocks from 500 pounds to 1,000 pounds of greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets for the same $4 rate. The new offset pricing is due to reductions in carbon offset market prices, and is effective retroactively to August 1, 2011. In addition to tree planting, NC GreenPower carbon offsets utilize biomass and landfill methane resources.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) approved the CleanPowerSF community choice program, which is expected to begin as early as July 2012. Community choice aggregation is a state policy that enables local governments to aggregate electricity demand within their jurisdictions in order to procure alternative energy supplies while maintaining the existing electricity provider for transmission and distribution services.

The Village of Oak Park, Illinois is initiating a 100% green powered community choice program for its residents and small businesses, which is expected to launch in January 2012. Community choice aggregation enables local governments to aggregate electricity demand within their jurisdictions in order to procure alternative energy supplies while maintaining the existing electricity provider for transmission and distribution services.

In only 4 days, Berea Municipal Utilities (BMU), Kentucky, sold all 60 available solar leases for the first-phase of the Berea Solar Farm. The first-phase of the Berea Solar Farm enabled customers to lease up to two 235-watt solar panels over a 25-year period, for one-time fee of $750 per panel. Customers will receive a credit of $3.19 per watt for the electricity generated by their panels each billing period.

Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) announced a 20 year power purchase agreement to provide wind power for OSU's Stillwater, Oklahoma campus. OG&E will contract with NextEra Energy to build a 60 megawatt (MW) wind farm near Blackwell, Oklahoma to support the OSU wind project. OSU expects the wind power agreement to help meet the current and future power demands, while optimizing the university's energy cost savings.

Center for Resource Solutions released its 2010 Green-e Verification Report, which highlights Green-e Energy Certified renewable energy and carbon offset sales in 2010. The report also highlights organizations participating in Green-e Marketplace, which allows participating organizations to use the Green-e logo. The Green-e Verification Report shows a 23 percent increase in total Green-e Energy retail sales in 2010, equivalent to more than 23 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy generation.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) announced that it will deploy a minimum of 210 megawatts (MW) of distributed renewable and demand-side, in-city energy technologies to serve San Francisco residents by 2017, as part of the CleanPowerSF program. CleanPowerSF is the City's Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, which is under development. Local Power, Inc will develop request for proposals (RFPs) for deployment of the renewable energy and demand-side efforts.

SunEdison and Staples have achieved more than 30 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity produced through solar installations on Staples' properties. The solar hosting program between Staples and SunEdison began in 2005 and now includes installations on 33 Staples sites in California, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey. The generated solar power is used across Staples' facilities, including retail stores, delivery fulfillment centers, customer service call centers and sales offices.

Toms River Regional School District (New Jersey) is nearing completion of a second phase solar panel installation atop 11 district schools and two Board of Education-owned buildings. The first phase solar panel project was completed in 2004 as part of the Smart Schools Initiative. The second phase installation will be finished by December 31st, with any remaining work to be completed in January 2012. Once complete, the district will have 6.2 megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity.