State Seeks More 'Green' Energy Users

State Seeks More 'Green' Energy Users ; Officials Are Backing a Campaign That Begins Today to Sign Up More Homes and Businesses.

Sep 14 - Portland Press Herald

The state is lending its support to a campaign starting today aimed at increasing the sale of electricity from renewable power sources in Maine.

The campaign, called Clean Energy Maine, wants more homes and businesses to buy power generated by hydro and biomass plants around the state. The goal is to reduce the state's dependence on oil and natural gas, cut air pollution and give a boost to Maine's renewable power industry.

The campaign is set to kick off this morning with a news conference at the Worumbo Dam on the Androscoggin River at Lisbon Falls, one of the energy sources being promoted by the campaign. Representatives from Gov. John Baldacci's office and the Maine Public Utilities Commission are among those expected to attend.

The state also will contribute $50,000 for radio and newspaper ads to promote the campaign.

Clean Energy Maine is the most recent attempt by the state and renewable energy advocates to convince Mainers of the benefits of buying locally produced power, despite the fact that it costs more than conventional supplies.

Last year, a coalition of roughly two dozen organizations and businesses announced a statewide "green" power campaign aimed at switching 5 percent of the state's electric market - 60,000 customers - to renewable energy by 2008. But after an initial surge, the effort by the Maine Green Power Connection has been less successful than organizers had hoped. The current goal is to have 5,000 customers by the end of this year.

To date, roughly 2,000 homes and businesses have signed up. For typical home and small-business customers, green power costs $7.50 a month - or $90 a year - more to buy than the state's default or "standard offer" service.

Buyers can choose from supply options that include a 50-50 mix of Maine-based hydro and biomass generation to certificates from wind- energy suppliers, primarily out of state. Among the largest customers is state government itself, which now gets 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Other institutional buyers, such as York Hospital, and schools including Colby College, Unity College, College of the Atlantic, Bangor Theological Seminary and the University of Southern Maine, also have signed up.

But organizers say most Maine homeowners just aren't aware of the program, and they hope the upcoming rounds of advertising and promotion will help.

Erika Morgan, program manager for the Maine Green Power Connection, said the campaign also will launch two new electricity products that may appeal to customers. One of the supplies comes solely from the Worumbo hydro project.

Owned by Miller Hydro Group, the 19.4-megawatt generator is the first dam in Maine certified as low impact by the Portland-based Low Impact Hydropower Institute. The institute's voluntary certification program is designed to help consumers identify low-impact hydropower facilities for emerging green energy markets. The project meets eight environmental criteria, including river flows, water quality, fish passage and protection, watershed health, endangered species protection, cultural resources, recreation use and access.

Beth Nagusky, who directs the governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security, said the $50,000 going to support the campaign was approved by the Legislature. She noted that many of Maine's small hydro owners haven't fared well in the competitive electricity market, and the premium price available for green power will give them an expanded outlet for their generation.

"Increasing sales of renewable power can only help the small hydro owners," she said.

Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at: tturkel@pressherald.com

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