A
voluntary renewable energy
program from
Missouri River Energy Services®
(MRES®).
MRES,
with offices located in
Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, is the preferred power supplier for 56 municipal utilities in
Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Why
a wind program?
Where is the MRES
wind generation site located?
Are you planning additional wind farms?
How is wind energy purchased?
Who can purchase wind energy?
Can an individual purchase wind energy directly from
RiverWinds ?
How Can RiverWinds
help my utility get started?
What is the cost to
participate in
the RiverWinds
program?
Why
a wind program?
The
RiverWindssm
wind energy program was developed for
several important reasons.
-
Municipal customers have expressed an interest in
renewable resources. In response, many municipal utilities have committed to
offering their customers additional renewable energy options.
-
It is one of the
cleanest
and
most economical
renewable energy sources available.
-
Several states have mandated
utilities to provide a percentage of their total electric generation in the form of
renewable energy. Minnesota is one of these states.
-
State and Federal
governments have recently begun to offer development incentives that help to
bring renewable energy to the customer at an affordable price.
-
It allows MRES to expand efforts to bring
our members and customers the energy they need while protecting the
environment.
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Where is the MRES wind
generation site located?
The
RiverWinds program will be based upon wind generation strategically
located in communities in the region. The first wind farm project is
two 900 kW turbines located two miles west of Worthington, Minnesota. They
are projected to be operational by July 1, 2002.
Wisconsin
Public Power has also announced their intentions to build two 900 kW
turbines at the same Worthington site. (See our "Watch
us Grow" web page.)
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Are you planning additional wind farms?
Several other projects are being
investigated. Customer demand, among other things, plays a large part in
developing future strategies. MRES is constantly evaluating our needs and
the needs of our customers. Any future plans will be announced on our web
site as they are decided.
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How is wind energy purchased?
The customer is not actually purchasing
wind energy; however, they are purchasing the environmental attributes that
are developed with the generation of renewable energy. This is accomplished
by purchasing what is known in the industry as
Green
Tags. Green Tags are sold to retail customers by
the purchasers of
Green
Power. In the RiverWinds program
purchases of Green Power are made
by participating municipal utilities.
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Who can purchase wind energy?
We are currently selling
Green
Power only
to municipal utilities on a first-come-first-served basis. Thus far
principal interest
has been shown from MRES member utilities. Depending upon their
reason for participating in the RiverWinds program
the utility may or may not choose to market the
environmental attributes of green energy to their customers. One method
frequently used to convey the environmental attributes to the customer is
thru the sale of
Green
Tags. The individual utility establishes their own price
structure for this service.
If you represent a utility and you are
interested in participating in the RiverWinds program please contact us using the form near the end of
this page. It is not necessary to be an MRES member to participate in
the RiverWinds program.
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Can an individual purchase wind energy
directly from
RiverWinds?
If you are an individual residing in the
Northern Plains region and you wish to purchase green energy you must
contact your local utility. If your local utility is not currently a
participant in a green power program you may not be able to purchase wind
energy at this time. Inform your local utility of your desire to purchase
green tags or
contact us using the contact information
that can be found throughout the RiverWinds web site.
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How Can RiverWinds
help my utility get started?
Any
interested utility can purchase a
WindKit. The
WindKit was developed specifically for the RiverWinds
program and contains materials designed
to provide a turnkey green energy marketing solution. You may purchase the
WindKit by using the contact
information that can be found throughout the
RiverWinds
web site.
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What is the cost to
participate in the RiverWinds
program?
-
The cost
of the WindKit is a one-time fee of $150.00.
-
Call a RiverWinds
representative for
further information.
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