Wednesday, May 1, 2002

EMC now providing a "green" option

In conjunction with Earth Day last Tuesday, 16 Georgia electric cooperatives opened enrollment for the state's first clean energy program with electricity generated by Green Power EMC.

Customers will be able to begin subscribing to a limited number of 150 kilowatt-hour blocks of green power from participating Georgia electric cooperatives: Carroll, Cobb, Coweta-Fayette, Habersham, Irwin, Jackson, Lamar, Ocmulgee, Sawnee, Snapping Shoals, Tri-County and Walton EMCs: Coastal Electric Cooperative; Jefferson Energy Cooperative; GreyStone Power Corporation and Flint Energies.

In conjunction with the opening of the subscriptions, Governor Roy Barnes recognized the importance of the co-ops' green power initiative when he designated Earth Day as Green Power Day in a proclamation ceremony at his office April 8.

"The participants in Green Power EMC believe, like most of the people they serve, that we are all stewards of the earth and have a responsibility to find ways of producing cleaner, more environmentally friendly energy," said Green Power EMC President and Coweta-Fayette CEO Michael Whiteside.

"Through their participation in our generation projects, our member EMCs can offer their customers the power to choose how some or all of their electricity is generated."

Coweta-Fayette EMC will sign up customers on a first-come, first-serve basis for their allocation of the eight megawatts of power generated by Green Power EMC in the first year ­ enough green power to serve about 30,000 customers of the more than 900,000 Georgia homes, factories and farms served by the 16 EMCs.

The program according to the EPA will have the same environmental benefits as taking 114,400 cars off the road or planting 156,000 acres of forest.

Using renewable electric generation sources, like biomass, wind, solar and low-impact hydro, the non-profit Green Power EMC will begin supplying "green" power to the 16 EMCs this fall. Generation will initially come from reclaimed methane gas at three north and middle Georgia landfills. The sites will be at the Richland Creek Road landfill in Gwinnett County, the Roberts Road landfill in Fayette County and the Taylor County landfill.

In use since the late 1970s, this method of producing biomass electricity is regarded as one of the most mature and successful in the green power field. Methane gas results from the natural break down of landfill wastes. The recovered gas is sold to gas-to-energy plants to fuel electric generators.

Green Power EMC projects that solar and low-impact hydroelectric energy sources will be added to its generating capacity in 2003.

"Surveys of EMC customers indicate that they are interested in green energy and are willing to pay a bit more for environmentally-friendly power. The slightly higher cost of green energy results from the more expensive technology required to capture renewable energy resources," said Whiteside.

"And while no energy source is impact-free, every kilowatt of green power generated offsets other forms of electric generation, such as coal and oil, resulting in less pollution for Georgia's residents."

Whiteside said each EMC will price their green power offering based on generating expenses and administrative costs.

Electric cooperative customers who are interested in signing up for green power should contact Coweta-Fayette EMC at 770-502-0226 or by e-mail at www.utility.org.

Coweta-Fayette EMC provides electricity to members in Coweta, Fayette, South Fulton, Meriwether, Heard and parts of Clayton and Spalding counties.

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