Description

In May 2005, Montgomery County signed a contract with Washington Gas Energy Services and its wind energy supplier, Community Energy, to supply 5% of a multi-jurisdictional group’s power with wind-energy resources. The contract applies to six county agencies, 11 municipalities and Prince George’s County. This group agreed to purchase 38.4 million kilowatt-hours per year for two years from wind facilities in West Virginia. In early 2006, the county and its partners doubled their purchase to 10% and will purchase approximately 65.9 million kWh of wind generated electricity during 2008. The group has further plans to increase this purchase to 20% by 2011 if practical.

The group’s commitment to purchase wind power was influenced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s designation of metropolitan Washington, DC, as a severe ozone non-attainment area. As a result of this designation, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, approved State Implementation Plans (SIPs) in February 2004 in order to meet the national Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone. These SIPs include the first state submissions of wind-energy purchases as control measures in regional air-quality plans required under the Clean Air Act. The wind purchase is designed to reduce dangerous ozone transport caused by fossil-fuel power plants in upwind areas.