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Western shops for green tags, green power for Federal agencies

Things that are good for us can also be just plain good, as several Federal agencies concluded when they recently asked Western to issue Requests for Proposals to purchase renewable energy and renewable energy certificates on their behalf.

The green products will help the agencies comply with Executive Order 13123, directing Federal offices to increase renewable energy use to 2.5 percent by 2005, to reduce energy use 30 percent by 2005 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2010. Renewable power could also help agencies manage their exposure to volatile energy prices and stimulate local development—the same benefits that private-sector businesses enjoy.

Western’s Renewable Energy for Federal Agencies program is helping to spread those benefits and move the executive order’s goals closer to reality, said Western Renewable Energy Manager Mike Cowan. “We’ve made presentations in partnership with the Federal Energy Management Program, distributed program brochures, posted program information on our Web sites and published articles on the program, but we aren’t knocking on doors,” he said. “The agencies are coming to us.”

The Environmental Protection Agency asked Western to buy 17,375 MWh annually of renewable energy certificates for five offices in the Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada regions. Western’s Colorado River Storage Project Management Center is seeking proposals to supply 66 GWh of green power to Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base and Los Alamos National Laboratory, all in New Mexico.

Renewable certificates give EPA flexible power options
The EPA facilities—in Denver and Golden, Colo.; San Francisco, Calif.; and two in Kansas City, Kan.—face different power purchasing options. Western’s one-stop, renewable energy service allowed the agency to meet each office’s specific needs. “Access to retail transmission of renewable generation varies widely from region to region,” explained Cowan. “Renewable certificates offer a multiple-office agency like the EPA a simple and cost-effective way to support green energy and meet its objectives.

Renewable energy certificates, or green tags, are the environmental benefits associated with generating one megawatthour of electric energy by a renewable resource. This option requires no transmission or ancillary services and makes no impact on the customer’s existing power supplier.

Green tags also allow flexibility in choosing the characteristics of the renewable resources. The Denver and San Francisco offices specified that 25 percent of the power come from zero-emissions generation. The Golden and Kansas City offices requested 100 percent zero-emissions generation.

Proposals for certificates generated from Native American-owned renewable resources or renewable resources located on tribal property received favorable consideration. “The environmental justice committee had asked us to look into the possibility of purchasing generation from Native American wind farms,” recalled EPA Green Power Coordinator Justin Spenillo.

“Then, a version of the Energy Bill that seemed about to pass included a provision requiring Federal agencies to purchase a certain percentage of Native American renewable energy,” Spenillo said. “So, adding that specification to the request seemed like a good way to support tribal economic development while getting a head start on a congressional mandate.”

Customers help other facilities by adding green tags to request
The New Mexico request for proposals called for purchasing 26 GWh for SNL and KAFB, and 40 GWh for LANL annually for five to 10 years. Western accepted proposals from suppliers that could provide from 5 GWh annually to the total requirement of 66 GWh.

Solar, geothermal, biomass or wind technologies were eligible to compete for the contract. Proposals were expected to include both firm deliverable power and green tags. “Initially, the agencies wanted Western to purchase only firm power to encourage development of local resources,” said General Engineer Sam Loftin.

However, Holloman and Cannon Air Force bases—two more facilities that wanted to participate in the proposal—were not positioned to accept power. “The other three agencies agreed to buy renewable certificates and sell them to the two bases to meet their Federal requirements,” Loftin explained.

The flexibility of renewable certificates has helped to move Federal facilities closer to the goal of Executive Order 13123 and a greener future. As of March 2004, the Federal government was three-quarters of the way to meeting its 2.5 percent renewable energy goal. With support from Renewable Resources for Federal Agencies program, Western will help take them the rest of the way.