Green Power Partnership
Long-Term Contracts for Green Power
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
1-2 pm (EST)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership
On Wednesday, October 26, from 1-2 pm (EST), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Green Power Partnership hosted a webinar on long-term contracts for green power.
Three quarters of the voluntary renewable energy market — which was estimated at more than 30 million megawatt-hours in 2009 — is comprised of commercial and institutional (C&I) green power consumers.1 The majority of these C&I purchasers procure green power via short-term contracts, often year-to-year. However, long-term contracts (i.e. five or more years) provide a more stable stream of revenue for renewable energy developers, making it easier for them to obtain financing for new projects. In this way, signing a long-term contract can allow a purchaser to indirectly accelerate the rate at which new, clean energy is brought to the grid.
To date, however, very few long-term contracts for green power exist. This webinar will use two case studies to explore long-term green power contracts for C&I purchasers and address such questions as: What are the advantages and disadvantages of long-term contracts? Is it possible to save money and hedge against price volatility with a long-term contract? How do long-term contracts factor into decisions to build new renewable energy generation projects on the part of the developer and project financier?
Speakers included:
- Blaine Collison, Program Director, U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership
Presentation (PDF) (9 pp, 213K, About PDF) - Mary Ellen Mika, Supply Chain Manager, Steelcase
Presentation (PDF) (20 pp, 509K) - Robert Taylor, Energy Manager, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
Presentation (PDF) (22 pp, 755K)
To request an audio recording of the webinar send an email to Mollie Lemon (lemon.mollie@epa.gov).
(1) NREL. 2010. Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report (PDF). (69 pp., 1.1M)