External Resources
- American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
- Green Power Partnership
- Northwest Environmental Advocates
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
- Electric Markets Analysis and Applications from NREL (EMAA)
- Washington Solar Energy Industries Association
- Solar Washington
- EPA Guide to Purchasing Green Power
Contacts
The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) requires that electric utilities in the state offer "a voluntary option to purchase qualified alternative energy resources" to their customers (RCW 19.29A.090(2)). In accordance with this requirement, the state's three investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) - Avista Corporation (Avista), Pacific Power & Light Company (Pacific Power), and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) - have created special programs that help their customers access such alternative energy resources.
These programs typically work by allowing customers - including homeowners, renters, and business owners - to purchase "blocks" of alternative energy for a small fee per clock. Each customer can choose to offset as much of their energy usage as they wish, up to and including 100 percent of their monthly usage.
The energy delivered through these programs is "green" power that comes from the following sources:
- Wind
- Solar
- Geothermal
- Landfill gas
- Wave or tide action
- Gas produced during the treatment of wastewater
- Qualified hydropower
- Biomass energy, so long as it meets certain requirements
- Dairy methane
If you wish to participate in an investor-owned utility's green power program, please access the appropriate link below:
Below you can find data and graphics that show the impact of customer purchases through green power programs.
TABLE 1: GREEN POWER SALES (in MWh)
| Company | Description | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avista | Green Power Annual Sales (MWh) | 55,893 | 53,333 | 56,213 | 56,804 | 56,173 | 53,678 |
| Green Power Sales as a Percent of Total Sales | 1.0% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.9% | |
| Pacific Power | Green Power Annual Sales (MWh) | 8,856 | 9,688 | 10,023 | 10,157 | 10,214 | 10,753 |
| Green Power Sales as a Percent of Total Sales | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | |
| PSE | Green Power Annual Sales (MWh) | 365,796 | 380,434 | 421,742 | 490,685 | 471,027 | 500,925 |
| Green Power Sales as a Percent of Total Sales | 1.7% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.3% | |
| Source: Avista Corporation, Pacific Power & Light Company, and Puget Sound Energy, December 2018. Note: Data is end-of-year snapshots for each year. | |||||||
Puget Sound Energy, the largest IOU in Washington, unsurprisingly supplies the vast majority of electricity provided through IOU green power programs in the state. Since 2014, PSE has supplied at least 2 percent of its total annual electric load through its green power programs. Avista consistently supplies around 1 percent of its load with green power, while Pacific Power receives less than one-half of 1 percent of its load through green power programs. The combined totals from all three companies show a steady growth in the amount of green power provided, and an uptick since 2015 in the percent of load supplies through green power programs.
TABLE 2: CUSTOMER CLASS BREAKDOWN
| Company | Description | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avista | Total Number of Green Power Program Participating Customers | 2,407 | 2,506 | 2,465 | 2,907 | 2,903 | 3,635 |
| Percent of Participating Customers | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1.4% | |
| Pacific Power | Total Number of Green Power Program Participating Customers | 2,752 | 3,035 | 3,201 | 3,500 | 3,981 | 4,692 |
| Percent of Participating Customers | 2.2% | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2.7% | 3.1% | 3.6% | |
| PSE | Total Number of Green Power Program Participating Customers | 34,962 | 40,518 | 43,318 | 43,365 | 41,541 | 46,210 |
| Percent of Participating Customers | 3.2% | 3.7% | 4.0% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 4.1% | |
| Source: Avista Corporation, Pacific Power & Light Company, and Puget Sound Energy, December 2018. Note: Data is end-of-year snapshots for each year. | |||||||
While PSE continues to Serve more total customers through its green power programs, Pacific Power has seen impressive growth in customers served since 2012. This has helped lead to an overall increase in the number of Washington electric customers that participate in green power programs. In 2017, 3.6 percent of Washington IOU customers were part of such programs. The vast majority of these were residential customers.
TABLE 3: GREEN POWER SALES BY FUEL TYPE (in MWh)
| Company | Fuel Type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avista | Solar | 0 | 23 | 23 | 152 | 576 | 543 |
| Wind | 55,893 | 53,310 | 56,190 | 56,652 | 55,597 | 53,135 | |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pacific Power | Solar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,441 |
| Wind | 8,856 | 9,688 | 10,023 | 10,157 | 10,214 | 7,312 | |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| PSE | Solar | 3,031 | 10,029 | 8,535 | 815 | 770 | 32,592 |
| Wind | 245,627 | 302,294 | 324,207 | 387,013 | 349,489 | 376,757 | |
| Other | 117,138 | 68,111 | 89,000 | 102,857 | 120,768 | 91,576 | |
| Source: Avista Corporation, Pacific Power & Light Company, and Puget Sound Energy, December 2018. Note: Data is end-of-year snapshots for each year. | |||||||
As mentioned above, green power can come from many sources. In practice, wind power is the dominant source of electricity for IOU green power programs; it provided 78 percent of the electricity for such programs from 2012 through 2017. The situation is beginning to change, however, as programs incorporate more solar power into their offerings. In October 2918, Avista christened the largest solar array in Washington to serve its Solar Select commercial customers. PSE is currently the only IOU that provides power through something other than wind and solar; its programs incorporate geothermal, landfill gas, and low-impact hydro, among other options.