Renewables cooperative negotiates first deal
The National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) - a recently-formed entity owned by 24 power supply and distribution cooperatives - announced it has reached a major milestone by facilitating and negotiating agreements between two of its member cooperatives and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America (EC&RNA).
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- May 19, 2010
The National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) - a recently-formed entity owned by 24 power supply and distribution cooperatives - announced it has reached a major milestone by facilitating and negotiating agreements between two of its member cooperatives and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America (EC&RNA). The transaction represents the first of many planned renewable energy projects for NRCO and its member cooperatives.Basin Electric General Manager and CEO Ron Harper is the chairman of the organization.
Under separate purchased power agreements (PPAs), Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), a customer-owned electric utility based in Hughesville, MD, and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), a cooperative based in Glen Allen, VA that supplies wholesale power to 11 member distribution cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, have agreed to purchase the energy and associated environmental attributes for the next 18 years from the Stony Creek Wind Project.
The project - which began commercial operation in the fall of 2009 and has a nameplate capacity of 52.5 megawatts (MW) - is owned and operated by a subsidiary of EC&RNA, and is located near Somerset, PA within the PJM market. NRCO and its member cooperatives, which include G&T and distribution cooperatives with over 39,000 MWs of generation and serving 11 million electric customers in the United States, are pioneers in the concept of bringing together power supply and distribution cooperatives from different regions of the country to access large-scale renewables projects located throughout the continental United States.
"These inaugural agreements represent the execution of NRCO's mission to evaluate, deliver and facilitate the negotiation of promising renewables opportunities for its member cooperatives that will help them achieve meaningful participation in renewable energy projects at the most affordable cost. We look forward to continuing success helping other member cooperatives meet their renewable energy goals," said Amadou Fall, CEO of NRCO. NRCO functions as a clearinghouse for renewable development opportunities while aggregating its members renewable energy needs.
Austin J. Slater, Jr., SMECO president and CEO, said, "We are very excited about the Stony Creek project and working with NRCO. They worked with the developer to bring this project to the table and assisted with the contract negotiations. We are always working to be good stewards of the environment and to keep our electric rates competitive."
"We are pleased that ODEC had the opportunity to partner with SMECO to add the Stony Creek Wind Project to our respective portfolios of purchased power resources," said Jackson E. Reasor, ODEC president and CEO. "We also greatly appreciate the efforts of NRCO in helping to facilitate this agreement. NRCO was established to assist electric cooperatives across the U.S. in finding and securing economically-viable renewable energy resources. This project is another successful example of how cooperatives can work together for the betterment of their consumer-members."
"These PPAs play an important role in making our projects economically viable," said Steve Trenholm, CEO of EC&RNA. "We are particularly excited about playing a leading role in helping these cooperatives meet America's fast-growing renewable energy needs."
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Basin Electric Power Cooperative will provide cost-effective wholesale energy along with products and services that support and unite rural America.
