Municipal utilities in California have banded together to pool their demand for renewable energy.
SAN FRANCISCO, California, US, 2001-04-04 <SolarAccess.com> The Public Power Renewable Energy Action Team (PPREAT) has been established to aggregate the demand for renewable energy among public power utilities, and to move renewable energy into mainstream power planning processes. Key supporters of the group include the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, City of Anaheim, Northern California Power Agency and other municipal utilities in the state. While the initial supporters for PRPEAT are based in California, the group hopes to expand and to work with public power agencies across the United States. Management and organizational responsibilities for the group have been assigned to the Center for Resource Solutions, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. The utilities are moving to support the use of renewable energy resources in the state because the current volatility in electricity markets has made renewable energy increasingly cost-effective. The group of municipal utilities wants to deploy renewable resources as a means to ensure the continued competitiveness of public power. PRPEAT will also identify opportunities for public power joint-ownership of renewable energy projects, leverage federal and state renewable energy project development technical assistance, hedge against future volatile electricity prices, create a common public power branding strategy around renewable energy resources, and develop a replicable model for joint-ownership of renewable energy projects. CRS will soon issue a Request For Proposals to seek partners in the renewable energy industry to collaborate with PPREAT in response to the PIER Renewable Energy Program Area Grant issued recently by the California Energy Commission.
