February 7, 2007

Washington State Cities Buy Green Power

Washington’s Puget Sound Energy recently signed green power agreements with cities and other government entities from Bellingham to Olympia.

“The city of Bellingham, city of Olympia, LOTT (Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County) Alliance, and Whatcom County have all signed agreements with Puget Sound Energy to purchase green power to support the development of clean, renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest,” said Cal Shirley, PSE’s vice president of Energy Efficiency Services. “Collectively, they will be purchasing more than 53 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power this year A?AA¢AA¢aAA¬AA¢a?A¬? equivalent to the electricity used by about 4,400 households.”

All four government entities will qualify for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership Program’s Leadership Club. Bellingham is the largest local government buying 100 percent green power in the U.S. and the first local government on the EPA’s Top 10 Local Government Partners list to go 100 percent green.

A 2002 Washington state law requires all electric utilities in the state to offer their customers the option of purchasing green power.

In December, Puget issued an RFP to develop the Pacific Northwest’s largest solar-powered generating facility at the company’s Wild Horse Wind Project in Eastern Washington.

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