The Los Angeles City Council has approved two agreements between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), a municipal-owned utility, and Powerex Corp., a wholesale energy marketer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, to increase LADWP's renewable energy portfolio. The agreement provides for the purchase of 50 MW of clean energy per year, which increases LADWP's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 8%.
During the first year, LADWP will purchase renewable energy from several small hydro-electric generating facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Over subsequent years, the utility says it will consider other types of renewable energy, including wind, to fulfill the agreement. The purchase, which is enough power to serve approximately 70,000 homes per year, will go into effect April 1.
"LADWP is taking a multipronged approach to meeting its RPS commitment of 20 percent by 2010," says H. David Nahai, president of the board of LADWP commissioners. "The agency is utilizing power purchase agreements such as this as a bridge to increasing our supply of renewable energy in the short term, while pursuing plans to build renewable power generation for ownership over the long term."
