You may be hearing more about "green power" -- electricity that is generated by renewable energy sources like wind, solar cells, and other "earth friendly" means. In years past, utilities often dragged their feet when it came to alternative energy, but now there are new reasons to become involved. A deregulated energy market is upon us. The key to success will be understanding what motivates the customer's choice of one energy provider over another. Electric power suppliers can attract customers through product differentiation and added service portfolios. Demographic research shows that many consumers consider the environmental impact of their choices when making purchase decisions. Electricity generated from "green sources" often attracts a new market that is even willing to pay more for their power. This section of NFEC's website is devoted to green power as a marketing tool, and how environmental considerations can have an impact when dealing with customer choice in the energy marketplace. Scroll through to view a discussion of different green power sources, and learn why power suppliers find it important as a distributed generation option and customer marketing tool. One success story comes from Great River Energy in Minnesota (formerly United Power & Cooperative Power). This power supplier began by pre-selling 3,750 "blocks" of wind generated power to interested consumers (1 block = 100 kilowatt-hours). Businesses and home owners have contracted to pay $2 extra per month for each 100-kWh block of green power that they use. Now that all the needed energy has been sold, Great River Energy has begun building their $1.7 million wind farm in southwestern Minnesota. Also in Minnesota, Northern States Power is pursuing a 75 MW power plant that uses alfalfa stems as fuel. The project starts with the construction of an alfalfa processing plant consuming 700,000 tons per year of alfalfa, to be owned by a group of regional alfalfa growers. Of the total material, 300,000 tons of livestock feed (alfalfa leaves) will be produced, and the remaining 400,000 tons of stems will fuel the power plant. The planned facility site is near Granite Falls, MN. Another promising green power source is biogas (methane) from the waste produced by large animal enterprises. An example is Craven Dairy, located in a sensitive coastal watershed in northwest Oregon. In January 1997, the farm began turning manure into energy. The Tillamook Peoples Utility District worked with the farm, and now receives 60 kW of electricity from each of two Ford, biogas-driven engine generators. Solar power is another for utilities, now used to provide electricity to remote homes, cabins and isolated applications like livestock water pumping, security lighting, data sensors and others. Landfill gas recovery for energy use is gaining in popularity. This source of green power is helping communities become more sustainable under increasing economic pressures. This website contains additional information on utility involvement in different sources of green power. The most extensive discussion is on agricultural methane recovery. Look to other portions of this website to learn more about each of the following green power topics. Additional information on green power is available from other organizations. Many of these have their own website. Provided below is a list of other sources for green power information.
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