The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its annual ranking of leading utility green power programs. Under these voluntary programs, consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as solar and wind. More than 600 utilities across the United States now offer these programs.
Using information provided by utilities, NREL develops “Top 10” rankings of utility programs in the following categories: total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of customer participants, customer participation rate, and the lowest price premium charged for a green pricing service using new renewable resources.
Ranked by renewable energy sales, the green power program of Austin (Texas) Energy is first in the nation, followed by Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, Florida Power & Light, and Sacramento (Calif.) Municipal Utility District.
Ranked by customer participation rates, the top utilities are City of Palo Alto (Calif.) Utilities, Lenox (Iowa) Municipal Utilities, Montezuma (Iowa) Municipal Light & Power, Holy Cross Energy (Colo.), and Sacramento Municipal Utility District.
Customer choice programs are proving to be a powerful stimulus for growth in renewable energy supply. In 2005, total utility green power sales reached 2.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), a 36% increase over 2004. And an estimated 430,000 customers are participating in utility programs nationwide, up 20% from 2004.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.
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