REC

Southern Power’s first wind project, the 299-MW Kay Wind facility in Kay County, Oklahoma, is fully operational. The electricity and associated renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the facility will be sold under 20-year PPAs with Westar Energy and Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA). Westar Energy has contracted for approximately 199 MW, and GRDA has contracted for approximately 100 MW. Both companies will have the option to either keep or sell the RECs.

Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power acquired the 103-MW Butler solar facility from Community Energy. The facility, located on approximately 1,070 acres in Taylor County, Georgia, is expected to enter commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2016. Construction is slated to begin in September 2015, with First Solar managing the building, operations and maintenance of the facility.

First Wind reached an agreement with Burlington Electric Department (BED) to sell the utility power generated from the planned Hancock Wind project near Ellsworth, Maine.

REC announced three new utility scale installations in North Carolina. The projects, developed, engineered and constructed by Strata Solar are Rock Farm, 6.65-MW, Mt. Olive Farm, 6.65-MW, and AM Best Farm, 6.4-MW. Collectively these farms are powered by 81,000 high-performing REC 250 Peak Energy solar panels and generate 31,320 MWh’s of solar energy annually. These ground-mounted installations each cover an approximate area of 16 hectares and were commissioned in the first half of 2013.  

The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a proposal by Ameren Missouri to update a voluntary program which gives consumers the opportunity to finance the purchase renewable energy credits (REC). Ameren charges customers $15 per credit, including the ability to purchase amounts equal to their monthly usage or select a set number of RECs per month. The PSC said that price was about average for such programs in the United States.