Austin Pushing for Number One Clean Spot in Competitive World Renewable Energy Market

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). What place or region would you bill as the current "Clean Energy Capital of the World?" Would it be Germany with its installed 13,000 MW base of windpower plus other Renewable Energy (RE) technologies or Denmark with a strong installed base and an export trade in renewable supplies worth billions. Or could it be California with its leading edge installations in a number of technologies and its claim for solar stardom? Maybe a South American country or China with massive "clean' hydroelectric contributions to their national power outputs?

Well, the city, which is positioning itself for the title, is ...Austin, Texas.

At the end of August the Austin City Council passed a resolution that directs Austin Energy, the municipal utility, to "develop and incorporate strategies in its strategic plan that will ensure Austin remains a national and international leader in the development and use of clean energy."

The resolution covers; progressive and ambitious renewable energy and energy conservation programs; the nationýs leading RE portfolio standard; emphasis on successful economic development, recruitment and retention of clean energy business enterprises; positioning Austin through identification and incorporation of promising energy technologies; mitigation of carbon emissions from current and future fossil fuel facilities to reduce negative effects of global warming.

Well Ma, that's just about anything and everything that can keep the RE apple pie cooking.

The City is looking to build on its GreenChoice program which according to the council, quoting the DOE, had green sales in 2002 double the amount sold by Sacramento and Xcel Energy combined. Austin Energy has sold more than 500 million kWh of green power to customers since the program's inception in 2000 and has purchased the output from approximately 100 MW of renewable energy (primarily wind), which represents about three percent of its overall energy resources, reports the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Austin says that it is well on its way to meeting the 1999 council-established goal of 5% RE by 2005. Austin has also captured clean energy events such as the International Green Building Conference, AWEA's Windpower, and the American Solar Energy Society Conference. Central Texas has also become home to 80 clean energy business enterprises that generate more than $250 million in annual revenues and employ 2,600 people. (brag not in Copenhagen boys!).

Meanwhile, back on the duplex hacienda, as much as 23% of Southern California Edison's (SCE)(NYSE:EIX) (Rosemead, California) total monthly power sales this summer came from renewable energy sources. This power was sourced from purchases of wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy as well as power from small hydroelectric facilities.

SCE chairman John E Bryson said "We have surpassed the state's new 20% standard for utility renewable procurement 14 years early." He was referring to the Senate bill passed in fall 2002 that requires California's three investor owned utilities to increase their procurement of electricity generated from renewable sources annually by one percent of retail sales until a target of 20% is reached by 2017. A crisply stated target given a heavy whack by SCE.

SolarAccess reports that SCE is seeking to add cost effective resources to its renewable energy portfolio. The utility has released a Request For Offers (RFO) soliciting 10, 15, and 20-year contracts with RE projects.

SCE reports that from the around 150 independent RE power producers currently under contract to SCE they can generate more than 2,500 MW of the power utility customers need. This, says SCE, is more than the total amount of renewable power procured by all other California utilities combined. On a hot summer day, (we remember, we remember Blanche) reports the SCE, the company's 4.5 million business and residential customers typically need more than 18,000 MW of electricity.

And now for it Austin, the SCE reports that a comparison of US RE power procurers showed that SCE alone procures around 13,000 GWh of renewable energy per year which is more than any state except for California. The report goes on to say that California utilities lead the nation in RE procurement purchasing with a combined total of about 23,000 GWh per year. Florida ranks second in the US with about 5,000 GWh per year according to 2001 statistics. In 2001, all the US utilities combined procured around 78,000 GWh of renewable energy, the report says.

So, if you had not noticed, we are looking at a competitive RE marketplace where OK sources are sought at a market related price, as utility commodities, by procurers (sorry Mum). This activity projects some reality for the RE future greater than Ma's apple pie. It says that subsidies and holistic environmentalism are now part of a more dynamic marketing mix. The RE market is past the motherhood and apple pie phase.