NJ Clean Power

[ramapo]

I was paying my Rockland Electric bill last night when I noticed a flyer for converting to a Clean Power supplier. For a modest premium of 1.3 cents/kwh, I can obtain 100% of my electricity from one of three suppliers who provide a mix of wind, solar, bio, and low-impact hydro generated power.

I think the program has been online for maybe a year or so but has not been promoted. I seem to remember seeing something about this in a previous bill but for some reason it didn't move me to act. This looks like a very easy way to actually move to renewable energy and it is certainly a lot less expensive than installing a roof full of solar panels.

I'm reviewing the suppliers and it looks like Community Energy is my choice as they include a small percentage of NJ solar. NJ Wind is available but only as 15% of your supply.

I wonder if there is actually sufficient supply of renewable energy to meet a significant number of new subscribers. I guess that would be a happy problem as it would spur construction of additional clean facilities. It also appears as we must rely on the state to audit the supply to make sure it is actually green. Of course, they're not supplying power directly to your household but are putting clean power into the grid on your behalf. I do wonder who picks up the slack if they're unable to supply sufficient power to meet their subsciber's demands.

Has anybody been using a Clean Power supplier either in NJ or one of the other states offering such a program?

[GliderGuider]

1. I'm in Canada, and use Bullfrog Power

I opted for this after looking into putting up my own PVs or wind turbine. I found out that neither are very practical in urban settings, and my provincial utility's "incentive" program turned out to be a combination of disincentives and greenwashing. When I found out about clean electricity suppliers, making the switch was a complete no-brainer. They're regional, they tend to invest in small to medium scale hydro, wind and biomass, and the cost as you've seen isn't all that great. I pay about an extra dollar a day. Best of all it's not a shell game like offsets - it's actual green power being fed into the grid.

[BonnieJW]

2. How can you find one near you?

I live in northern Virginia.

[GliderGuider]

3. Start here

http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Topics/Documents/10381GreenPower.pdf has links to green suppliers in Virginia.

Google "green electricity virginia" for more info.

[NNadir]

4. I wonder if these things are audited.

I suspect they aren't.

Wind and solar are not significant in New Jersey or in any of the surrounding states. We do have the third smallest proportion of our electricity generated by fossil fuel means however and are roughly comparable to California. (Vermont gets 92% of its electricity by means other than fossil fuels, and leads the nation in this regard.)

Personally, I think it's a scam.

[ramapo]

6. NJ PBU if they can be trusted

The FAQ on the njcleanpower.com site claims that the NJ PBU's Clean Energy office ensures that your clean power is purchased and put into the NJ/Mid-Atlantic grid.

However none of the providers listed give specific sources of the clean energy that they are marketing. I don't believe any of them are actually producers, just marketeers.

The most specific source listed is NJ Wind from the facility near Atlantic City. I read someplace today that NJ has one of the highest growth rates of solar generation although solar is only 1% of the renewable supplied (50% wind, 49% small hydro). Certainly the "clean" power is most all purchased from out-of-state/region but then that is not unusual though not especially efficient.

[NNadir]

7. I have read that the entire solar capacity of New Jersey is the equivalent

of a few thousand SUV's on the Turnpike.

I will bet the signatories of this program already exceed a few thousand SUV's worth of energy.

I am familiar with New Jersey's energy profile. We're relatively clean because of our high proportion of nuclear energy, but that's not what's being sold in this surcharge. We just don't produce all that much so called "renewable energy" unless you include trash burning.

The best things New Jerseyans can do for climate change is to support Oyster Creek's relicense and applaud any effort to build new nuclear plants here.

[hunter]

5. I'd buy electricity from Diablo Canyon.

Nuclear electricity costs less.

I wouldn't buy coal or natural gas.

I would buy wind and solar and geothermal and very select hydro. (Glen Canyon, no. Hetch Hetchy, no. Any sort of tidal power, no. Hoover Dam, yes, that's a historical monument I would support.)

Shouldn't these sorts of programs go both ways? And if they did would most people buy coal over nuclear?