THE NEW ENERGY UTILITIES

NREL Highlights 2010 Utility Green Power Leaders; New, innovative community programs support local power generation
May 9, 2011 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

"The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)…annual assessment of leading utility green power programs…[evaluates] voluntary programs [through which] consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as wind and solar…Green power sales from utility programs exceeded 6 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2010. Wind energy now represents more than three-fourths of electricity generated for green energy programs nationwide.

"Using information provided by utilities, NREL has developed Top 10 rankings of utility green power programs for 2010…[in] total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of customer participants, the percentage of customer participation, green power sales as a percentage of total utility retail electricity sales, and the lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources…"

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"…[M]ore than 850 utilities across the United States offer green power programs…Ranked by renewable energy sales (kWh/year), Austin Energy in Austin, Texas sold the largest amount of renewable energy in the nation through its voluntary green power program…

"Ranked by the percentage of customer participation, the top [utility is] City of Palo Alto Utilities (California), with more than 20 percent of its customers participating in its green power program…"

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"Utility green pricing programs are one segment of a larger green power marketing industry that counts approximately 1.5 million customers, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities among its customers, and helps support more than 9,000 megawatts of renewable electricity generation capacity.

"NREL has also found that more utilities are developing community solar programs…[that enable] consumers to support local projects…[by purchasing] a share of a solar system developed in their community and receive the benefits of the energy that is produced by their share…Typically, consumers will pay an upfront cost per watt of solar, and then receive a credit on their bill for the kilowatt-hours that their purchase generated…"