When ranked by total sales of renewable energy, Austin Energy in Texas sold 764,895,830 kWh of wind energy and landfill gas last year, followed closely by Portland General Electric at 740,880,487 kWh.
The rankings are contained in the latest annual assessment by the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The agency ranks voluntary green and renewable power programs among US electric utilities, to quantify the consumption of electricity generated from wind, solar and other renewable energy resources.
“Despite the economic downturn, consumers are continuing to support the development of renewable energy by voluntarily participating in utility green power programs,” explains NREL Analyst Lori Bird. “These utilities are the national leaders.”
Analysis for different renewable energy options
NREL develops ‘top 10' lists for total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of customer participants, 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.
In addition to Austin Energy and Portland General Electric, the balance of top sales were by
- PacifiCorp (578,744,080 kWh)
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District (377,535,530)
- Xcel Energy (374,296,375)
- Puget Sound Energy (303,046,167)
- Connecticut Light & Power (197,458,734)
- National Grid (174,536,130)
- Public Service Company of New Mexico (173,863,751)
- We Energies (173,217,802 kWh)
Ranked by customer participation, the top utilities are:
- City of Palo Alto Utilities at 21%;
- Portland General Electric;
- Madison Gas & Electric;
- SMUD; and
- The City of Naperville.
Programs allow support for renewable energy
“Participating in green power programs is one way that consumers can support renewable energy development and reduce their environmental footprint,” adds NREL Analyst Jenny Sumner.
Utility green and renewable pricing programs are one segment of a larger green power marketing industry that counts major companies, government agencies and universities among its customers, and supports 6 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity.
For green power sales as a percentage of total retail electricity sales (in kWh), Waterloo Utilities leads with 21.4%, followed by Edmond Electric, Portland General Electric, City of Palo Alto Utilities and Austin Energy.
For total number of customer participants, Portland General Electric leads with 72,812, followed by PacifiCorp, Xcel Energy, SMUD and PECO.
Edmond Electric is the leader for price premium for power from new renewable energy facilities at US$0.17/kWh, followed by OG&E Company at US$0.28, Avista Utilities at US$0.33, Park Electric Cooperative at US$0.39 and Arizona Public Service at US$0.40 premium.
Support due to growing awareness of renewable energy options
NREL attributes the success of many programs to continued efforts by utilities to raise awareness of the availability of green adn renewable power options.
In addition, the rate premium that customers pay for green power continues to drop, with the average net price premium for utility green power products decreasing from 3.48¢/kWh in 2000 to 1.75¢/kWh in 2009.
NREL released its first annual Green Power study in 2000.