Tracking Renewables Out West

Tracking Renewables Out West

Oct 01 - Electric Perspectives

In June, the largest single wind project in Wyoming (according to owner and operator FPL Energy) officially opened. The Wyoming Wind Energy Center, a 144-megawatt (MW) facility powered by 80 wind turbines of 1.8 MW each, will double the state's wind generating capacity.

This kind of project fits into the Western Governors' Association (WGA's) plan to measure the feasibility and define actions required to reach a goal of 30,000 MW of renewable energy by 2015. California has a 20-percent target by 2010. Western governors, representing 11 states and two Canadian provinces, have called for development of a single, independent institution in the West to issue, track, and verify renewable energy generation and certificates.

The Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System (WREGIS) is an accounting system that tracks renewable energy generation and creates renewable energy certificates (RECs). It's designed to be the basis for renewable energy markets and trading. Each REC represents one megawatt of renewable energy generation. WREGIS accounts for transactions involving RECs in the geographic region covered by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. The system also will help utilities comply with renewable energy goals and serve to verify how "green" a power supplier is.

Two of the eighty wind turbines at the Wyoming Wind Energy Center, the state's largest wind project.

Moreover, the tracking of renewable generation is important to efforts to estimate emissions reductions for state implementation plans for regional haze, says WGA. It also establishes the ownership and assignment of RECs and revenues associated with them to more accurately allocate costs in rate proceedings. Sponsors of the system also expect it to protect consumers and utilities participating in green power market programs from "double counting" and erroneous green product claims. WREGIS will be operational in 2005.