City Doubles Renewable Energy Sources in Five Years

Palo Alto is well on its way toward meeting its ambitious goal of sourcing 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015. 

The city-owned utility has doubled the percentage of renewable-sourced electricity from 10 percent in 2007 to 20 percent last year, according to the “Service Efforts and Accomplishments” report delivered to City Council by the City Auditor this week.

During the same time, the utility’s reliance on renewable large hydroelectric plants dropped from 84 percent to 45 percent, and in the last two years, overall carbon dioxide emissions from the city’s electric supply dropped in half.

Seven percent of all the renewable power in the city went to the 21 percent of all residents who are enrolled in Palo Alto Green.

All the while, the total amount of power being used by both commercial and residential clients has gone down. Residents used 160,318 megawatt hours of power last year, compared to 162,405 MWH in 2007. That’s about 2.49 MWH per person.

Commercial clients used 786,201 MWH last year. By comparison, Google datacenters used 2.26 million megawatt hours in 2010.

The total electric utility operating expense of FY2011 was $93.3 million, according to the report, down eight percent from 2010, but up four percent from 2007. Even though the average residential electric bill has gone up to $76.33 per month, that is still less than an average PG&E bill—about $120.

The push to conserve energy and find renewable resources is part of the city's larger , which include green building programs and electric car charging stations, and water conservation initiatives.

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