On October 21^st, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognized six organizations and companies during its 10^th annual Green Power Leadership Awards in Portland, Oregon, including solar companies SolarCity Corporation (Foster City, California, U.S.) and SunRun Inc. (San Francisco, California, U.S.). The winning organizations, including two utilities, were selected on multiple criteria which gaged the effectiveness and innovation of their low-carbon and renewable energy services, including resources and technology used, total annual "green" power sales, number of customers served, market impact, amount of "green" power supplied, and overall value provided to customers.

"Across the nation, responsible companies and consumers voluntarily purchase renewable energy through local suppliers to help reduce America's dependence on foreign energy sources and expand an industry that is creating thousands of new jobs each year", said the DOE in a press statement. "DOE encourages the growth of these programs nationwide by selecting exemplary programs to receive Green Power Leadership Awards."

Portland General Electric, La Plata Electric Association recognized for voluntary programs

Other winners in the non-utility category included 3Degrees Group Inc. (San Francisco, California, U.S.) and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (Portland, Oregon, U.S.). La Plata Electric Association Inc. (Durango, Colorado, U.S.) and Portland General Electric Company (Portland, Oregon, U.S.) were recognized for hosting the utility green power programs of the year, through which customers voluntarily buy electricity from renewable sources.

About 860 utilities offer programs which the DOE identifies as "Green Power Programs". The DOE says that annual sales from these programs have more than doubled since 2005, with annual "green power" market sales increasing by 17% in 2009, with a compound annual growth rate of 37% since 2005.

The DOE estimates that nearly 1.4 million customers purchased green power in 2009 though a "green" power program, competitive marketer program or a renewable energy certificates marketer. However, voluntary programs have not had a similar scale of impact on renewable energy development compared to strong, binding programs such as renewable portfolio standard policies or feed-in tariffs.

SunRun recognized for rapid growth

SunRun provides a solar power service where the company installs, owns and maintains solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on customer's homes, including guaranteeing the production of the units for 20 years, with the customer purchasing the electricity from the system. The DOE notes that SunRun has developed more than 5,000 home PV installations in five states, totaling more than 25MW, and partners with 20 leading local installers who employ more than 2,500 persons. The award further states that the company is growing more than 500% annually.

Solar lease pioneer SolarCity recognized

SolarCity (Foster City, California, U.S.) has more than 9,000 PV systems completed or underway in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas, and services including PV, energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits. The DOE describes Solar City as the only company to offer design, financing, installation and monitoring of PV systems to businesses and homeowners from a single source. With the award, the DOE recognized SolarCity for several innovations including the solar lease, the community purchase program, and integration of solar and energy efficiency audits and retrofits.  

2010-10-25| Courtesy: DOE  | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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