Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status
Report
A new report from NREL documents green power marketing activities
and trends in the United States. The first section of the report
provides an overview of green power markets, including product
pricing, sales, and consumer response. Subsequent sections provide
brief descriptions of utility green pricing programs, companies that
actively market green power in competitive markets and those that
market renewable energy certificates (RECs) nationally or
regionally, and a select number of large, nonresidential green power
purchasers. Some of the key findings of the report include:
- More than 500,000 electricity customers nationally are
purchasing green power products through regulated utility
companies, from green power marketers in a competitive market
setting, or in the form of RECs.
- Retail sales of renewable energy in voluntary purchase markets
experienced strong growth in 2004, increasing more than 60% to 6.2
billion kWh annually. REC purchases by nonresidential customers
fueled much of this growth, although residential sales also
continue to grow and customers have increased the size of their
purchases. Thus, the nonresidential market has emerged in recent
years as the primary of driver of market growth.
- Since 2000, the amount of renewable energy capacity serving
green power markets has increased more than tenfold. At the end of
2004, more than 2,200 MW of new renewable energy generation
capacity was being used to supply green power markets, with
another 450 MW planned.
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