SAN FRANCISCO, April 2, 2001: Municipal utilities in California
have come together behind renewable resources. Volatile electricity
markets are making renewable energy increasingly cost-effective,
and a team of municipal utilities plans to deploy renewable resources
as a means to ensure the continued competitiveness of public
power. The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), a non-profit
organization based in San Francisco, has assumed management and
organizational responsibilities for the group, which is called
the Public Power Renewable Energy Action Team (PPREAT). Key supporters
of PPREAT include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power,
City of Anaheim, Northern California Power Agency and many other
municipal utilities in California.
PPREAT aims to:
Aggregate demand for renewable energy among public power utilities;
Move renewable energy into mainstream power planning processes;
Identify opportunities for public power joint-ownership of renewable energy
projects;
Leverage federal and state renewable energy project development technical assistance;
Hedge against future volatile electricity prices;
Create a common public power branding strategy around renewable energy resources;
and
Develop a replicable model for joint-ownership of renewable energy projects.
While PRPEAT's initial collaborators come from California, PPREAT participants
ultimately hope to work with public power agencies from across the nation.
Information on PPREAT and its activities will be available at
www.resource-solutions.org. CRS will soon issue a Request For
Proposals for soliciting partners in the renewable energy industry
to collaborate with PPREAT in response to the CEC PIER Renewable
Energy Program Area Grant RFP.
For more information, contact Kirk Brown at CRS at 415-561-2100
or e-mail at: kirkbrown@resource-solutions.org.
Based in San Francisco's Presidio, CRS administers national and international
programs that preserve and protect the environment through the design of
innovative strategies and increased utilization of appropriate technologies.
CRS directs the Green-e Program, a renewable energy certification program
for restructured electricity markets. Dr. Jan Hamrin founded CRS and serves
as the Executive Director. More information is available at www.resource-solutions.org
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