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MARCH, 2003 Turning the Wind to Power:
No, through a market innovation known as "green power," or "green tags," you can buy "virtual" wind power, supporting projects that may not be close enough to bring the actual wind power to your door, but are building the market for wind power and adding pollution-free electricity into the generating mix. There are two main ways to buy wind power without installing your own system: through your utility service provider or by buying green tags. Green Power In most states, customers do not have a choice of retail electricity service providers; all aspects of electricity service, from generation to retail service, are performed by the local utility. Some utilities have begun providing their customers with the choice to specifically support renewable energy production through a product like a subscription service, known as a "green pricing" program. Customers can elect to pay for the production of a percentage or all of their electricity needs from a wind or other renewable energy project. Because these green pricing programs tend to be smaller projects, and because the cost of the project is spread over fewer people, customers almost always have to pay a higher price than for conventional supply. Utilities also structure the pricing of their programs differently. Some, notably Austin Energy, charge customers the actual cost of procuring the wind energy, which will stay flat for 20 years. When gas prices rise above the cost of the wind power, as has happened since the program was launched, the green pricing program is less expensive. There are also utilities that procure wind power for their entire customer base. This practice is called "rate-basing" the wind power, and next week's series will look at public policies that can encourage more utilities to procure wind power. To find out whether your local utility offers a wind-based green power product, go to the Department of Energy's Green Power Network site at http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/home.shtml and look under "green pricing." In states where utility customers do have the ability to choose among different electricity suppliers, some suppliers offer a green power choice in order to appeal to customers for whom that is a priority—a practice called "green marketing." The product is most usually a mix of renewable resources except in Texas, where much of the new renewable electricity is generated from wind power. Green Mountain Energy offers a 100% wind power option in Texas, and offers a range of products in some other competitive states. For more information go to http://www.greenmountain.com/index.jsp . For deregulated states, competitive service providers will be listed on the Green Power Network's Web site under "green marketing." Both the "green pricing" and the "green marketing" lists include details about the resource that the service provider is selling as green power, whether it is wind power or another form of renewable energy. Green Tags If your electricity provider does not offer a wind power product, you may want to consider buying green tags, or tradable renewable certificates. These are available to everyone across the country, because they are not tied to transmission wires or utility service territories. A green tag is a certificate representing the legal right to all the benefits—except the electricity—that a kilowatt-hour of wind generated electricity produces, such as the pollution avoided from not burning fossil fuels (carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulate matter, and so forth), the economic development that wind power brings to mostly rural areas of the country, and the benefit of not consuming finite resources. The Green Power Network also maintains a list of green tags providers at http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/home.shtml , under "Certificate Providers." Last year, AWEA decided to purchase green tags in an amount equal to 100% of its annual electricity use at its Washington office. "Green tags allow AWEA to directly support wind energy and the development of the green power market even though we are renting office space," said Kathy Belyeu, AWEA's green market analyst. "This is an action that organizations and individuals can take right now to reduce the impact that their electricity use has on the environment." Tom Gray, AWEA's deputy executive director and director of communications, said, "The market for green tags is a potentially powerful tool, allowing us to vote with our dollars for a cleaner, more secure, and more diverse energy future. AWEA is pleased to cast its vote in support of that future." Estimating that AWEA uses approximately 57,000 kWh of electricity annually for 2,900 square feet of office space, it will split the purchase of 60 1-MWh (1,000-kWh) tags from the two marketers who met the criteria of being 100% wind-based, an AWEA member, and Green-E-certified by the Center for Resource Solutions: Community Energy, Inc., in Wayne, Pa., and Bonneville Environmental Foundation, in Portland, Ore. AWEA's commitment entitles it to recognition as a member of the Green Power Leadership Club, part of the Green Power Partnership, a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voluntary program that provides benchmarks, technical assistance, and public recognition to encourage organizations to commit to using green power for a portion of their electricity needs. The Leadership Club is comprised of purchasers who have made exceptional green power commitments that exceed basic Partnership requirements. For more information: The AWEA Web site has a number of fact sheets about green power at http://www.awea.org.greenpower , including a more comprehensive set of Web links. AWEA members who sell green tags are Community Energy, Inc. (
http://newwindenergy.org
), and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (
https://www.greentagsusa.org/
). Green Mountain markets several renewable energy products in a number of
states Green Power Network: The most comprehensive site on green power in the United States, maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/home.shtml . Green-e: A certification standard for green power products. http://www.green-e.org . Power Scorecard: Rating mechanism that assesses the environmental impact of different types of electric generation. http://www.powerscorecard.org . U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership: Program to recognize and encourage businesses and organizations that purchase green power. http://www.epa.gov/greenpower . |
©
2003 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
his article examines
practical ways for consumers to get more wind power into the electric supply
mix. Some consumers can consider when thinking about investing in a personal
wind generator for their home, farm, or business. But, what if you don't
have the land or the wind resource, or can't invest in a full system at this
time? Does that mean the option of using more wind power is closed to you?