UPC Wind, an independent wind power developer, and Bowdoin College,
announced today that the UPC Wind affiliate that owns the Mars Hill wind
project reached a three-year agreement under which that affiliate will
provide Bowdoin with renewable energy certificates (RECs) from its Mars
Hill Wind project in northern Maine.
Bowdoin’s decision to purchase RECs from the
Mars Hill Wind project – the only
utility-scale wind farm currently operating in all of New England –
stems from the school’s desire to support
local renewable energy projects. Bowdoin is currently offsetting
approximately 70 percent of its campus electricity use with voluntary
renewable energy certificates produced in Maine. These voluntary REC
purchases complement the green power already provided pursuant to Maine’s
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) law. For 2008, 31 percent of Bowdoin’s
competitive electric supply is from qualifying renewable sources
bringing Bowdoin’s total “green”
electricity supply to 100 percent.
“Our primary focus has been and will continue
to be switching to lower carbon fuels and increased energy efficiency,
but as we seek to become carbon neutral, purchasing offsets are a
necessity,” explains S. Catherine Longley,
Bowdoin’s Sr. V.P. for Finance and
Administration & Treasurer. “We are
excited that the Mars Hill Wind project allows us to procure wind RECs
locally.”
Bowdoin has a longstanding commitment to reducing its ecological
footprint. In 2006 it signed the Maine Governor’s
Carbon Challenge and agreed to reduce emissions to 11 percent below 2002
levels by 2010. This goal was surpassed in 2007. Bowdoin also joined the
EPA Green Power Partner Program in 2006; the agreement announced today
will ensure that Bowdoin remains in the EPA Program through 2010. More
recently Bowdoin signaled its intent to achieve carbon neutrality when
President Barry Mills signed the American College & University
Presidents Climate Commitment.
UPC Wind owns and operates the 42-megawatt (MW) wind farm in the town of
Mars Hill, the first utility-sized wind farm in Maine. It is also
developing other wind farms in the state, including a 57-MW project near
Danforth, Maine. That project is currently under construction and is
expected to be feeding power into the New England power grid before the
end of 2008.
“Bowdoin has taken an important step toward ‘carbon
neutrality’ and we’re
happy to help them achieve that goal,” said
Paul Gaynor, President and CEO of UPC Wind. “Maine
is quickly becoming the leading source for renewable energy in New
England, and we’re pleased to be able to
deliver clean, renewable power to the region.”
Renewable energy certificates are credits that individuals, institutions
or businesses can buy to compensate for the amount of nonrenewable,
greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels – such
as coal, oil and natural gas – used in their
vehicles, homes, offices or other facilities. Buying the certificates
helps subsidize the cost for a wind farm, solar farm or other renewable
energy producer to generate an equivalent amount of clean energy and put
it back into the power grid.
The RECs purchased by Bowdoin will be Green-e certified. Green-e Energy
RECs signify superior, third-party-certified renewable energy
generation, and are used by leading businesses and institutions to
verify the quality of renewable energy sources.
About UPC Wind
UPC Wind is based in Newton, Massachusetts. UPC Wind is an
American-owned company, with a proven track record of developing, owning
and operating well-sited, community-friendly wind farms that increase
energy independence. For more information on UPC Wind, please visit www.upcwind.com.
About Bowdoin College
Bowdoin is an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational residential,
undergraduate liberal arts institution founded in 1794. It is located in
Brunswick, Maine, a town of 21,000 on the Maine coast. Study at Bowdoin
leads to a bachelor of arts degree in one of more than 40 departmental
and interdisciplinary majors. Bowdoin enrolls approximately 1,710
students from across the country and around the world. More than 120
buildings are a part of the approximately 215-acre Bowdoin campus.
Bowdoin is committed to green building and other sustainable
initiatives. Many College buildings have been renovated to include
cutting edge technologies including geothermal heating and cooling
systems, energy efficient lighting, improved building envelopes and high
efficiency motors and equipment. The two most recent new residence halls
on campus received LEED silver certification as "green" buildings.
More Informational About Renewable Energy Certificates
When a renewable energy facility operates, it creates electricity that
is delivered into a vast network of transmission wires, often referred
to as “the grid.”
The grid is segmented into regional power pools; in many cases these
pools are not interconnected. To help facilitate the sale of renewable
electricity nationally, a system was established that separates
renewable electricity generation into two parts: the electrical energy
produced by a renewable generator and the renewable “attributes”
of that generation. The renewable attributes or “green”
attributes are sold separately as renewable energy certificates (RECs).
Only one certificate may be issued for each unit of renewable
electricity produced. The electricity that was split from the REC is no
longer considered "renewable" and cannot be “double
counted” and sold as renewable or
zero-emissions.
With the purchase of RECs, the buyer is buying the renewable attributes
(i.e. environmental benefits) of a specific amount and type of renewable
energy generation. The buyer will continue to receive a separate
electricity bill from their utility and/or competitive supplier. The
purchase of renewable certificates helps offset conventional electricity
generation in the region where the renewable generator is located. The
purchase also helps build a market for renewable electricity and may
have other local and global environmental benefits such as reduced
global climate change and regional air pollution.
To achieve Green-e Energy certification each supplier of renewable
certificates is required to disclose the quantity, type and geographic
source of each certificate. Green-e Energy also verifies that the
renewable certificates are not sold more than once or claimed by more
than one party. For information on Green-e Energy please visit its
website, www.green-e.org, or call
1-888-63-GREEN.
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