They do provide service in TX, but I was looking for a provider that supported the TX wind energy industry directly. I went with Breeze because one of the partners also runs a wind turbine equipment manufacturer, Cielo.
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Who's going all-in and switching to a 100% wind-powered utility service?
- Thread starter George Jetson
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- Texas USA wind energy
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
How can you tell, and support in what way ?
I'm not questioning your choice, I just could not figure out my questions from the website. This is what I was posting about earlier, that utilities make it very hard to sort out REC purchases from additional clean energy on the grid or purchase agreements.
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You have to look at the supporting documents for the plan. The Energy Facts Label will tell you whether the electricity you buy was produced from 100% renewables or whether they are using REC and just purchasing willi nilli off the grid. Did you look at that link I posted from the Breeze website?
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
I looked at the EFL; perhaps I don't know how to read for information I was seeking.
As I understand these things, a REC implies production from 100% renewables. I try to understand whether my extra money is putting more clean energy on the grid.
I found that to be a real challenge as well. Most of the providers are just brokering whatever power off the grid they can from the ERCOT. You're right, in most cases all you are doing is purchasing credits that are distributed back to the generator. If your provider doesn't specify which type or mix of renewables they are using your credits could go toward supporting geothermal out of state for example.
Even if it says 100% Wind, you might be supporting out of state wind power. Finding out the generators that receive your REC takes a little digging. I have to say I learned a lot more about energy providers than I wanted to, but it pays to be informed in the era of deregulation. The best way I found out was to look at the parent company. If they are owned by a big major, like NRG, you don't have any assurance that your payments are going back to sustain and build wind power employment and investment in Texas. I scoured the document links on powertochoose.org and then dug into the individual website dox.
This one from Ambit is particularly helpful and explicit: Product Content Label and Price, Terms & Conditions However, they are an MLM and not particularly vested in Texas' interests. They just happen to be purchasing 100% wind from Texas generators at the moment.
Green Mountain's EFL is also very informative:
"With the purchase of this Green Mountain Energy® electricity product, you are supporting cleaner electricity by offsetting 100% of your annual paid electricity usage with an equivalent amount of electricity produced by renewable sources of electricity generation in the United States. Green Mountain will purchase and retire renewable energy certificates (RECs) representing the environmental attributes associated with renewable energy generation for 100% of your paid usage. You will not have electricity from a specific generation facility delivered directly to your service address, but your purchase ensures that renewable energy equal to 100% of your paid electricity usage is produced using renewable resources on an annual basis. Renewable resource availability varies hour to hour and from season to season, as does our customers' use. We will rely on system power from the grid to serve our customers' minute by minute consumption but will use RECs to ensure that enough of the applicable Green Mountain Energy electricity blend is delivered to power systems in the United States to match our customers' actual annual electricity purchases. We may take up to three months following the close of a calendar year to make up any deficiency in a particular resource promised in connection with the electricity product you choose." They also specify 51% Texas sourced wind and 49% "other".
Hope that helps.
> . . I power my house, my well, my septic system and my car on solar. The panels paid for themselves in about 6 years. I have not paid an electric bill in a dozen years. . [Roblab]
Have you blogged your setup? Adding a big EV to an off-grid plan might throw the decision back to staying on-grid. But using today's panels and controllers would be more efficient or at least cheaper than the ones you originally installed. So your experience becomes very interesting indeed. 8^))
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Have you blogged your setup? Adding a big EV to an off-grid plan might throw the decision back to staying on-grid. But using today's panels and controllers would be more efficient or at least cheaper than the ones you originally installed. So your experience becomes very interesting indeed. 8^))
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SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
It sounds like you did the best you could with the information available.
I'm in the fortunate position of being able to put up PV at my home, so no doubt that I am adding to the grid. In other situations I would try to find a utility that uses my money to either 1, enter into a PPA with a local clean energy provider, or 2, buys the physical clean electricity on the wholesale market in addition to the associated REC.
I recommend taking a gander at the Google white paper I linked to earlier.
Cheers!
XHabjab
TSLA Bull
Old thread, but...
City of Georgetown TX power has been all wind for the past few years (source is a wind farm just West of Amarillo). This month (July 2018), solar from Fort Stockton area was added.
Your problem is solved by moving here.
City of Georgetown TX power has been all wind for the past few years (source is a wind farm just West of Amarillo). This month (July 2018), solar from Fort Stockton area was added.
Your problem is solved by moving here.
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