Basin Electric ranks 6th in renewable energy sales
By Daryl Hill, Basin Electric Power Cooperative
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its annual ranking of leading utility green power programs last month. Once again, Basin Electric Power Cooperative made the “Top 10” for 2006 in the category of Green Pricing Program Renewable Energy Sales. Basin Electric is a power supplier to a Touchstone Energy Cooperatives in the region, including East River Electric in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota.
In 2005, Basin Electric was ranked eighth for its sale of wind resources, but in 2006 the Cooperative moved up to sixth with green tag sales of 217,427,000 kilowatt hours to its members.
According to Ron Rebenitsch, Basin Electric manager of member marketing, the Cooperative’s Prairie-Winds® green energy pricing program was established in 2001, and the sales of Renewable Energy Credits or green tags associated with wind energy production began that same year; with sales on the rise each year since. The green tags are generated primarily from wind farms either owned by the Cooperative or through long term power purchase agreements from other wind projects. The green tags represent the environmental attributes of those resources. “Basin Electric is continuing to work to establish and promote additional renewable resources,” Rebenitsch said.
A green tag is an intangible product -- it is a value to the purchaser from an environmental perspective. Green tags offer a way for a consumer or business to offset or reduce their environmental footprint. And it provides an avenue for those buyers to financially contribute to environmental enhancement, according to Rebenitsch.
Green tags are purchased by Basin Electric’s member systems and other entities including the Minot Air Force Base (N.D.), the Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, S.D. and the National Cooperative Grocer’s Association. “To date, our primary market is what we call the voluntary market,” Rebenitsch said. “In addition to our members, this includes the Federal Government -- such as military installations or government agencies -- and brokers who resell the tags to others wanting to do their part for supporting renewable energy.”
He added, “It’s important to recognize that green tag sales to brokers were not counted in the ranking. If those sales were counted, Basin Electric’s ranking would have been higher.”
Each year, NREL uses information provided by each utility to create “Top 10” rankings 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. NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.
To find more information on green tags and to view a video clip of Ron Rebenitsch discussing Basin Electric’s green tag sales, visit http://basinelectric.com/Commerce/WhatWeSell/Green_tags.html.
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck. It generates and transmits electricity to 120 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 2.5 million consumers.
