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March 2006 - Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), a national cooperative retailer of outdoor gear and apparel, announced that it will purchase 10 million kWh of green power, equivalent to 20% of the company's annual electricity usage. The purchase of wind, landfill gas and solar-generated electricity will provide 100% of the power for 17 of REI's 82 retail stores. REI has entered into renewable energy contracts with seven different utilities and marketers in nine locales, with some of the products being Green-e certified. In several cases, the purchases will reduce the company's exposure to fossil fuel surcharges. The purchases include the following stores and suppliers:
- Brookfield, WI; We Energies; sources: wind, landfill gas and solar
- Madison, WI; Alliant Energy/WP&L; sources: wind, landfill gas and solar
- Eugene, OR; Eugene Water & Electric Board; source: wind
- Denver, Englewood, Boulder, Grand Junction and Lakewood, CO; Xcel Energy; source: wind
- Colorado Springs, CO; Community Energy Inc.; source: wind
- Fort Collins, CO; Fort Collins Utilities; source: wind
- Bloomington and Roseville, MN; Xcel Energy; source: wind
- Dallas, Houston (two stores) and Plano, TX; Green Mountain Energy; source: wind
- Pittsburgh, PA; Community Energy Inc.; source: wind
News Release - REI Steps Up to 20 Percent Green Power
REI Contact: Kevin Hagen, (253) 437-7312
June 2004 - Fort Collins Utilities has lowered the premium charged for its Wind Power Program to 1.0¢/kWh from 2.5¢/kWh. The lower premium, guaranteed for 2004 and 2005, resulted from a decision to purchase wind energy certificates from the new, 144-MW Pleasant Valley Wind Energy Facility located in southwest Wyoming. The utility is purchasing about 5% of the project output.
Fort Collins customers can choose to buy $5 or $10 blocks of wind energy, or have their total energy use supplied with wind—the average residential customer would pay an extra $7 per month to meet their entire electricity needs with wind energy. In 2003, the Fort Collins City Council approved a goal to increase the City's percentage energy contribution from renewable energy sources (in addition to existing large hydro) to 2% by the end of 2004 and to 15% by the year 2017.
News Release - Wind Power Program Expands, Price Drops
News Article - Wind power now more affordable - No longer online at coloradoan.com
More Information - Fort Collins Electric Energy Supply Policy
Fort Collins Contact: Lori Clements-Grote (970) 221-6700
April 2004 - Colorado State University (CSU), a land-grant university located in Fort Collins, CO, will offer students living in university residence halls a wind power purchase option. CSU, with an enrollment of 25,000 students, is believed to be the first university in the nation to allow on-campus residents to choose wind energy.
Beginning in the fall of 2004, the approximately 5,000 students living in residence halls will have the option to purchase 100% wind energy for their rooms at a cost of $17 annually. The typical residence hall student uses about 1,600 kWh of electricity during the nine-month school year.
Students will receive a wind power flyer in packets to be mailed in the summer and will also have the opportunity to sign up for wind power once they arrive on campus. The wind power will be supplied by Fort Collins Utilities through its Wind Power Program.
News Release - Colorado State First University in the United States to Offer Choice of Wind Power to Campus Residents
CSU Contact: Brad Bohlander (970) 491-1545
January 2000 - Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) announced plans to add two new 660-kW wind turbines to its Medicine Bow project to meet growing customer demand for green power. The turbines will provide additional power for the wind power programs offered by utilities in Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland, Colorado. Some of the power will also be used to supply a new program being developed by the town of Estes Park. The two turbines, expected to be operational this summer, represent the second expansion of the Wyoming project in the past year and will increase the total project capacity to approximately 6 MW.
News Release - PRPA Wind Site to Expand
Estes Park Contact: Mike Mangelsen (970) 586-5331
July 1999 - Fort Collins Utilities announced that it is expanding its wind power program. The municipal utility will purchase half of the power output from five new 660-kW wind turbines that will be built this fall by Platte River Power Authority in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Platte River already operates two 600-kW turbines at the site, which supply wind energy to more than 500 customer subscribers of the Fort Collins wind power pilot program.
Fort Collins is also increasing the wind power premium from 2.0¢/kWh to 2.5¢/kWh — the utility found that the lower premium did not fully cover the costs of the pilot program. Also, residential customers will now have the option of purchasing the wind power in 400-kWh blocks for $10.00 per month extra; businesses can purchase 1,000-kWh blocks for $25.00. Customers can also choose to service their entire electricity requirement with wind power.
March 1999 - The New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc., of Fort Collins, Colorado, announced that it will buy 100% wind energy to power the brewery's operations. New Belgium, a brewer of specialty beers, which include Fat Tire Amber Ale, has entered into an agreement with Fort Collins Utilities to purchase the wind energy at a premium price for 10 years. The entire 70-person staff of New Belgium voted to purchase the wind power even though the additional cost will diminish the size of their bonuses.
To supply the New Belgium contract, a third wind turbine, rated at 660 kW, will be added at the Platte River Power Authority wind site near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Two 600-kW turbines are already supplying 520 Fort Collins residents and 12 businesses participating in the utility's Wind Power Pilot Program.
The turbine will produce about 1.8 million kWh of electricity per year, offsetting more than 4 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Before subscribing to the wind energy program, New Belgium investigated ways to recover some of the CO2 that is a natural by-product of the fermentation process. However, by purchasing wind energy and thus displacing an equivalent amount of coal generation, the company discovered that it could decrease CO2 production by over six times the amount that would have been captured with a CO2 recovery system.
News Article - Colorado brewer puts 'green' beer on tap
New Belgium Contact: Greg Owsley, (970) 221-0524
FCLP Contact: Lori Clements-Grote (970) 221-6396
May 1998 - According to The Denver Post, Fort Collins Light and Power became the first Colorado utility to supply green power to subscribing customers when two new 600-kW wind turbines began generating on April 13. The wind turbines are located near Medicine Bow, WY. In 1996, Fort Collins announced a program to build one turbine for every 350 subscribing customers; the program has 13 business and 608 residential subscribers. Construction of the turbines had been delayed by equipment supply problems.
February 1998 - The two 750-kW wind turbines that will supply power for Fort Collins Utilities's (FCL&P) Wind Power Program will not come on-line until May because of a supply snag. In the interim, the city is supplying some wind power to its customers from a 65-kW wind turbine located at the Medicine Bow wind site. Participating customers will not begin paying the green power premium until the larger turbines are up and running.
September 1997 - Approximately 700 Fort Collins Utilities customers have subscribed to purchase power from two 750-kW wind turbines that are expected to begin operation no later than November 1. While residential subscribers will be required to purchase all of their power from the wind project for a 2¢/kWh premium, commercial customers will be able to purchase the wind power in 1000 kWh blocks.
March 1997 - In September 1996, Fort Collins Utilities, a municipal electric utility in Colorado, announced a wind power pilot program to be implemented through green pricing. Residential and business customers are being offered this service for a rate premium of about 2¢/kWh, or $10 or $15 more per month based on the average monthly customer usage. The utility hopes to contract for as many as three wind turbines; each turbine requires three-year commitments from 350 customer "wind subscribers." As of January 27, 1997, 640 residential customers and 10 small commercial customers had signed up, nearly enough for two turbines. The projected on-line date is spring or summer 1998.
FCLP Contact: Lori Clements-Grote (970) 221-6396
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