Green Power Partnership Program Updates Issue 35
Issue 35, October 29, 2015
- EPA Releases Updated Top Partner Lists
- EPA Launches 2015-2016 College & University Challenge
- 2015 Green Power Leadership Award Winners Recognized
- Renewable Energy Markets Conference Highlights
- New EPA Fact Sheet: Renewable Energy in the Clean Power Plan
- Upcoming Webinar "Clean Power Plan: Interactions and Implications for Renewable Energy Markets" from the Center for Resource Solutions, Clean Energy States Alliance, and Regulatory Assistance Project
- GPP Webinar "Measuring Emissions from Purchased Electricity: A Primer on GHG Protocol's New Scope 2 Guidance" Now Online
- Partner Spotlight: The University of Illinois Nears Completion of 20-Acre Solar Farm
- On Twitter? Use #EPAGreenPower in Your Tweets
- EPA's RE-Powering America's Land Initiative New Decision Tree Tool
- Renewable Energy Markets Association Elects New Officers
- GPP Video on Renewable Energy Credits: "RECs: Making Green Power Possible"
- Three New NREL Resources
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EPA Releases Updated Top Partner Lists
On October 26, EPA released its updated Top Partner rankings, which highlight the annual green power use of leading Green Power Partners within the United States and across individual industry sectors. This quarterly update saw significant movement on several of the lists:
- National Top 100: Mars Incorporated and Equinix, Inc., two new partners, jump into the rankings at sixth and 18th, respectively. Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. also moved up to the 21st spot on the list.
- Top 30 Local Government: The City of Dallas, Texas doubled its green power use and is now in the top spot on the Top 30 Local Government list. The Montgomery County Clean Energy Buyers Group also moved up to number four.
- Top 30 College & University: By more than doubling its green power use, the University of Maryland jumped up ten spots to number 12 on the Top 30 College & University list.
Check out the full lists of the Partnership's top green power users.
EPA Launches 2015-2016 College & University Challenge
Throughout the 2015-2016 academic year, the Green Power Partnership will track the collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power usage in the nation. On October 26, GPP released the first Challenge rankings for 2015-2016. The GPP will update these rankings on January 25, 2016, and on April 25, 2016, will conclude the Challenge and recognize a Champion Green Power Conference as well as the largest single green power users within each participating conference as 2015-2016 EPA Green Power Challenge Champions.
There are currently 41 conferences participating in the Challenge, including newcomers Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the Midwest Conference. The Big Ten Conference is the defending champion and enters this year's Challenge ranked first, with a significant lead over the second-ranked Big 12 Conference. The University of Pennsylvania is the eight-time defending individual school champion and enters this year ranked first, with a significant lead over second-ranked Georgetown University.
Learn more about the 2015-2016 EPA College and University Green Power Challenge conference champions, including the individual conference leaders for each of the competing conferences.
2015 Green Power Leadership Award Winners Recognized
On Monday, October 19, EPA was thrilled to announce its 2015 Green Power Leadership Award winners. EPA recognized 22 Green Power Partners and three suppliers for their outstanding contributions and leadership in advancing the green power market. The winners were recognized at the 20th Anniversary Renewable Energy Markets Conference, hosted by the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), in Arlington, VA.
Awardees were recognized for their efforts in expanding the domestic renewable energy market. From using enough green power to meet more than 100 percent of electricity needs to installing solar arrays on-site or entering long-term power purchase agreements, these organizations demonstrate that green power is both accessible and affordable.
Congratulations to all our Green Power Leadership Award Winners! Visit the Green Power Leadership Awards page to learn more about the 2015 award winners. At this event, CRS also presented their Market Development Award Winners. See the video: http://resource-solutions.org/programs/gpla/.
2015 Green Power Leadership Award Winners.
Renewable Energy Markets Conference Highlights
On October 18-20, the Renewable Energy Markets Conference took place in Arlington, VA (Washington, DC metro area). Participants from around the globe shared ideas in promoting clean energy. Organized by the Center for Resource Solutions and co-sponsored by EPA's Green Power Partnership, this annual meeting of clean energy stakeholders includes generators, marketers, utility representatives, purchasers, policymakers, and regional stakeholders, and sets the agenda for the year to come. Many conference slide presentations are now posted (click on a presenter's name to download): http://www.renewableenergymarkets.com/rem2015/.
New EPA Fact Sheet: Renewable Energy in the Clean Power Plan
The EPA recognizes the role renewable energy is already playing in reducing emissions in the power sector and encourages renewable energy development to meet the Clean Power Plan goals. EPA anticipates that renewable energy will be a significant strategy for states and existing sources. This new fact sheet (PDF) (3 pp, 172K) outlines key ways that the Clean Power Plan supports the development of more renewable energy.
Upcoming Webinar "Clean Power Plan: Interactions and Implications for Renewable Energy Markets" from the Center for Resource Solutions, Clean Energy States Alliance, and Regulatory Assistance Project
Thursday, November 19
1:00 PM -2:00 PM EST
Do you know how compliance with EPA's Clean Power Plan (CPP) will affect your region's voluntary and regulatory renewable energy markets? Do you know how carbon trading under mass-based and rate-based programs can be coordinated with existing REC trading?
The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), and Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) team up for a webinar to answer these questions and discuss:
- Emissions allowances and emission rate credits
- Potential interactions with renewable energy certificates (RECs) from voluntary and compliance markets
- Potential impacts on renewable portfolio standard (RPS) markets and policies
- How RPS programs can help states meet their emission reduction goals
Featured speakers for this webinar include:
- Ed Holt, President, Ed Holt & Associates
- David Farnsworth, Senior Associate, RAP
- Todd Jones, Senior Manager, Policy and Climate Change Programs, CRS
GPP Webinar "Measuring Emissions from Purchased Electricity: A Primer on GHG Protocol's New Scope 2 Guidance" Now Online
On October 7, speakers from EPA, World Resources Institute, and WSP discussed the new Scope 2 Guidance. In case you missed it (or even if you didn't), webinar slides can be accessed here.
As many of you know, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol recently updated its Scope 2 Guidance to harmonize methods for organizational reporting of GHG emissions from purchased electricity, heat, and steam (called "Scope 2" emissions). This webinar focused on accounting for GHG emissions from purchased electricity. Also discussed was how organizations should report their emissions using both a location-based and market-based approach, the rationale behind the two approaches, and what types of electricity purchases can count towards emission reduction targets under the market-based approach. In addition, the webinar featured best practices for using the new guidance including insights and lessons learned from GHG accounting practitioners.
Partner Spotlight: The University of Illinois Nears Completion of 20-Acre Solar Farm
Video of University of Illinois solar farm project panel installation.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Green Power Partner, is nearly finished installing a 5.9 megawatt (MW) solar farm, financed through a power purchase agreement (PPA) and land lease with Phoenix Solar South Farms, LLC. Once completed, the solar farm will be among the largest on-site arrays located at a university in the country, producing nearly 8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. The Urbana-Champaign campus will use all of the electricity the array generates, which will meet approximately two percent of its electricity demand. The university will own any and all current or future renewable energy certificates (RECs) associated with the energy from this project.
Visit the university's website to learn more about the project visit.
On Twitter? Use #EPAGreenPower in Your Tweets
Please share with others your green energy achievements and involvement with GPP. Every tweet that includes #EPAGreenPower will show up the GPP home page's Twitter feed. Take a look at these recent examples:
EPA's RE-Powering America's Land Initiative New Decision Tree Tool
EPA's RE-Powering America's Land Initiative is pleased to announce its release of an Electronic Decision Tree tool to help communities, local governments, site owners, and other stakeholders explore the feasibility of solar or wind energy on formerly contaminated properties and underutilized sites.
The electronic decision tree is a downloadable computer application that:
- Explores potentially contaminated sites (e.g., brownfields, RCRA permitted, Superfund sites), landfills, and underutilized sites and rooftops
- Walks users through a series of Yes / No / Skip questions supplemented by tips and links to relevant tools and information resources
- Screens for site characteristics, redevelopment considerations, criteria specific to landfills and contaminated sites, energy load, policies, and financial considerations
- Generates reports of the screening results and user annotations that can be printed and/or copied into another document
The decision tree tool is not only a screening tool but also offers context-specific information regarding the various considerations that go into such screening. The tool is intended to engage non-experts in renewable energy to screen potentially contaminated or underutilized sites or landfills for whether they are good candidates for solar photovoltaic (PV) or wind projects. It is built so that experienced professionals can quickly navigate through the decision tree, and less experienced stakeholders can access additional information as they make their way through the questions. The tool is not intended to replace or substitute the need for a detailed site-specific assessment that would follow this kind of initial screening.
For additional information and to download the tool, please click here.
Renewable Energy Markets Association Elects New Officers
The Renewable Energy Market Association (REMA) recently announced the election of four new officers. REMA is a nonprofit trade association dedicated to maintaining and growing strong markets for buying and selling renewable energy in the United States, especially through the use of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The newly elected officers are:
- President: Rick Anderson, NextEra Energy Resources
- Vice President: Ian McGowan, 3Degrees
- Secretary: Alicia LaRoche, WGL Energy
- Treasurer: Kevin Maddaford, Renewable Choice Energy
"I'm pleased to say that REMA has a very strong leadership team in place to protect and grow the U.S. renewable energy markets," said REMA's General Manager, Patrick Serfass. "There's much we need to do with our members to enable renewable energy purchases and to protect the integrity of RECs for those transactions."
GPP Video on Renewable Energy Credits: "RECs: Making Green Power Possible"
A renewable energy certificate, also known as a REC, represents the environmental and other non-power attributes associated with one megawatt-hour (MWh) of renewable energy generation. Created at the point of electricity generation, RECs are a component of all renewable energy products and have become an important tool in helping to develop a robust green power market. In case you missed it, watch this GPP video, released in March 2015, to learn more about the role and benefits of RECs and get answers to common questions and concerns.
Three New NREL Resources
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released three items of interest: a report (PDF) (35 pp, 997K) examining the factors behind the decision to own or lease solar systems; a fact sheet (PDF) (2 pp, 543K) to help organizations determine if they are using renewable electricity; and a report (PDF) (53 pp, 3.6MB) on trends in the voluntary green power market.
The report, "To Own or Lease Solar: Understanding Commercial Retailers' Decision to Use Alternative Financing Models (PDF) (35 pp, 997K)," examines the tradeoffs among financing methods for businesses installing onsite PV. The authors present case studies of PV financing strategies used by two large commercial retailers. The goal of this report is to clarify the financial and institutional costs and benefits of financing strategies and to inform other companies that are considering launching or expanding similar PV programs.
The fact sheet, "Renewable Electricity: How do you know when you are using it (PDF) (2 pp, 543K)," helps to clarify when electricity consumers can claim to be using renewable electricity. It discusses the potential double-counting of renewable energy certificates (RECs); the roles of regulators, generators, and purchasers; and the international use of RECs.
The much-awaited report, "Status and Trends in the U.S. Voluntary Green Power Market (PDF) (53 pp, 3.6MB)" (updated with 2014 Data, released October 2015) covers the following purchasing options: utility green pricing, competitive suppliers, voluntary unbundled RECs, community choice aggregation (CCA), community solar, PPAs, and large commercial green power rates (or "green tariffs"). The voluntary market overall continued to exhibit growth in 2014, though growth varied by purchasing option. NREL's review of the voluntary market identifies specific market trends noted in this document. Don't miss it!
