La Plata Electric, the local electric cooperative serving Durango, played a big role in Durango being named as a “Green Power Community” by the Environmental Protection Agency in early January. Durango ranks as #12 in the United States and was the only community in Colorado to be recognized by the EPA.
EPA Green Power communities are municipalities in which the local government, businesses and residents voluntarily purchase Green Power, or electricity generated from a renewable resource such as solar, wind, biomass or small hydro, in amounts that meet or exceed EPA’s Green Power Community requirements.
In 2009, Durango residents and businesses purchased in excess of 12,758,000 kilowatt-hours of Green Power from LPEA, which accounts for 7.3 percent of all electricity consumed within the city. This ore than qualified Durango since the EPA’s standard for communities Durango’s size is 3 percent.
LPEA offers Green Power for a monthly premium of 80¢ per 100 kWh block. The electric co-op purchases Green Power, which is predominantly wind, from its power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission. Green Power funds also help finance local renewable generation projects and rebates for renewable generation installations on homes and businesses.
“This recognition is well deserved for the Durango community,” said Mark Schwantes, LPEA manager of corporate services. “This is the perfect complement to the on-going Climate Energy Action Plan and demonstrates the commitment to the residents of the city of Durango to ‘offset’ their electric usage with clean, renewable wind power from LPEA.”
“Most importantly, our board and management’s support for the effort — and our members’ voluntary purchase of Green Power has made all the difference,” he said. “We will be reviewing the Green Power purchased in all additional communities in our service territory and determining if they, too, meet the EPA’s requirements for recognition.”
Corvallis, Oregon, claimed the top spot on the EPA’s Green Power Community list.