Los Angeles, California officials have announced the city’s Department of Water and Power has generated 20 percent of its power from wind, solar and geothermal sources.
This story from the LA Daily News says it put the city well ahead of its and state renewable energy goals:
“This is a big deal,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference with environmental leaders. “When we set this goal in 2005, the DWP was the dirtiest utility in the nation. Today, it’s the cleanest and we have been able to do it at a cost lower than any other utility in California.”
In 2005, the Department of Water and Power generated roughly 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Last year, however, that surged to a high of 28 percent for a short time.
The key to achieving the goal, officials said, was the development of the Pine Tree Wind Farm in Mojave and the purchase of the Milford Wind Farm in Utah.
Wind power accounted for 47 percent of the renewable power, small hydro-electric was 20 percent, geothermal was 22 percent and solar was 1 percent. The mayor said the city hopes solar will provide more of the renewable energy in future years. The amount of renewable power generated by the DWP is 4,500 gigawatt hours, the level needed to power 750,000 homes. That reduces carbon dioxide by 2.5 million metric tons, the equivalent of taking 490,000 cars off the road.
The city was able to hit this goal ahead of other utilities in the area.