"Top 10" ranking of utility green power programs for 2015
Which utilities are having the greatest success with their green power programs? NREL has compiled extensive data on utility green power programs and produced the following "Top Ten" lists of program characteristics and results: total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of customer participants, the percentage of customer participation, and green power sales as a percentage of total utility retail electricity sales.
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its assessment of leading utility green power programs. Using information provided by utilities, NREL has developed "Top 10" rankings of utility green power programs for 2015 in the following categories: total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of customer participants, participation rate (the percentage of utility customers that participated in green pricing programs), and sales rate (green pricing sales as a percentage of total utility sales).
Ranked by renewable energy sales (megawatt-hours/year), Portland General Electric remained in the top spot by selling over 1.3 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy through its voluntary green power program. Indianapolis Power & Light Co (IPL) and Silicon Valley Power were new to the top renewable energy sales with 182,496 (9th) and 179,621 (10th) MWh, respectively. Green power sales of the top 10 utility programs exceeded 5 million MWh in 2015, up from 4.68 million MWh in 2014.
Portland General Electric's Green Source program achieved the highest participation rate (14.65% of eligible customers), followed by Farmers Electric Cooperative - Kalona (11.93%) and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (11.75%). Alameda Municipal Power and Stoughton Utilities were new to the top participation rate list with 6.44% (8th) and 5.14 % (10th). Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp and Xcel Energy remained in the top 3 in terms of total number of participants. Total green power program participants in the top 10 programs totaled 543,382, increasing from 526,733 in 2014. National Grid and We Energies were new to the top participants list with 16,276 (9th) and 15,595 (10th) customers, respectively.
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