FW: Houston, Palo Alto Make Big Renewable Energy Buys

Reaching the tipping point to sell power direct.



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06/24/2013 01:36 PM      ShareThis
Houston, Palo Alto Make Big Renewable Energy Buys

SustainableBusiness.com News


With the cities of Houston and Palo Alto both announcing big purchases of
renewable energy, it shows that prices are at the  point where cities can
get a significant portion of their energy from clean sources.

Houston's purchase makes it the largest municipal buyer of renewables in
the US. 

It's buying enough wind energy to supply half its electricity for the next
two years. The 140 megawatts (MW) from utility Reliant (owned by NRG) costs
just $2 million.



"Historically, investing in clean energy has been a matter of cost, but wind
prices right now are incredibly competitive with natural gas prices, so it's
become easier than ever to invest in clean energy. And not only do you get
clean air, but you are able to show leadership by making these investments.
It shows the world that it's doable," says Luke Metzger, director of
Environment Texas. 

"Purchasing renewable power is a significant way to help us continue to
reduce our emissions. We just reviewed data that shows that since 2007 & the
last five years - the City of Houston reduced our emissions by 26 percent.
So we are on the right track and we just want to continue," says Laura
Spanjian, Houston's sustainability director.

Houston has some of the strongest energy efficiency standards in the US
and one of the most extensive electric car charging networks. 

Thanks to a $6.8 billion investment in new transmission lines, Texas will be
able to deliver double the wind capacity to its cities. The state leads the
nation in installed wind capacity, which supplies 9.2% of in-state generated
electricity.

City of Palo Alto

The City of Palo Alto has approved a long term solar energy purchase that
will provide 18% of its electricity at the very low price of 6.9 cents per
kilowatt hour!

Its municipal utility will buy 80 megawatts (MW) of solar from several solar
plants under a 30-year power purchase agreement.

The price is competitive with natural gas and wind and cheaper than they
could get from a new nuclear or coal plant.

The city will buy the electricity from three solar plants, all sited on
distressed agricultural land and all coming online in 2017.

When that happens, Palo Alto will get a full 50% of its energy from
renewables.

In March, Palo Alto voted to use only carbon neutral sources of electricity
from now on, effective immediately. It can do that because the city owns
the utility - more cities are considering owning their utilities for the
same reasons.

Their Carbon Neutral Plan is designed to be transparent, credible,
sustainable, inspirational and repeatable by other communities. It's
expected to cost less than $3 a year on the average person's electric bill.

Last year, the city approved a feed-in law for locally-produced solar
energy.

Austin, Texas made a big wind purchase last week also at extremely low
prices, beating out natural gas.

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