Renewable Energy Information   on Markets, Policy, Investment, and Future Pathways   by Eric Martinot

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The city currently purchases 10% of its municipal power as green power from renewable energy. It has a renewable energy development fund of $8.5 million annually. With this, the city plans to encourage development of small-scale renewable energy projects in the future, including use of renewables in schools, libraries, and parks. It would like to create a distributed generation grid that can be islanded from the main utility system when necessary. The city sees the benefits of renewables in terms of public safety (backup for emergencies), lower costs for some public works, and a tool for community development. The city is also developing two pilot biomass projects using wood and agricultural wastes. Local power utilities are required to invest 2% of the revenue from power sales into energy conservation programs.

Page updated December 10, 2004
Photo credits C. Babcock, W. Gretz and DOE/NREL Photo Information Exchange