By Sunday Miller, KEVN, Black Hills Fox News
Black Hills Energy’s new “Renewable Ready” program allows certain customers to decide what percentage of their energy they want to come from a renewable resource. Solar, hydro, wind are all forms of renewable energy, and the company is ready to harness that power in its subscription-based program. “Instead of building your own facility, instead of placing either a wind or solar facility on your property, this allows you to buy into a larger scale renewable facility, in this case wind, and basically decide for yourself as a customer, do I want 10 percent, 20 percent, 50 percent or 100 percent of my energy to come from a renewable resource,” said Bret Jones, regional manager of Black Hills Energy. This new program offers larger customers, like the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, an alternative electricity option to power their facilities.
Read more here.
Image: Renewable Ready – Black Hills Energy is building a wind farm in Wyoming to provide a renewable energy source for customers.
About Black Hills Corporation
Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, Black Hills Corporation serves over 1.27 million customers in more than 800 communities in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Related
Civic center commits to green energy, Rapid City Journal
The venue is among the first major entities in Rapid City that has been announced as a customer of the wind farm that Black Hills Energy aims to build outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. Civic center directors have said that the complex will be powered solely with energy generated by the $57 million plant.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING
- MISO seeks to make solar a dispatchable, intermittent resource, PV Magazine
MISO is seeking input as it transitions solar power to being more highly integrated into its energy forecast modeling. This is happening as the volume of solar is booming, and follows on the grid operator’s success with wind power. - What’s Behind the World’s Biggest Climate Victory? Capitalism, Bloomberg
The market triumph of renewable energy marks the biggest victory yet in the fight against global warming. Solar and wind are proliferating not because of moral do-gooders but because they’re now the most profitable part of the power business in most of the world. This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to highlight climate change. - University of Illinois Reportedly Close to Signing $20M Solar Farm Deal, Energy Manager Today
- Illinois marijuana growers will face energy efficiency and reporting rules, Energy News Network. When Illinois’ new law legalizing recreational marijuana takes effect Jan. 1, growers will face some of the strongest energy efficiency and reporting requirements in the country. Marijuana can be an energy intensive crop. Resource Innovation Institute offers a tool called PowerScore, where growers fill out a survey on their energy, water and waste practices and receive an efficiency ranking.
- Salt Lake residents given community-wide discounts on rooftop solar energy, KUTV
- Open houses planned for Southwest Missouri wind project, Joplin Globe
- The military’s next essential tool: battery storage, Contributed Opinion, Chicago Tribune
- Elk River Municipal Utilities to grow with technology partner, Sponsored Advertising Feature, American Public Power Association. After out-growing the capabilities of their previous billing and accounting software, in 2013 ERMU became a member of National Information Solutions Cooperative, a technology solutions partner. For more information about NISC enterprise software solutions, visit NISC’s website.
POTENTIAL ON-BILL FINANCING MODEL
Holland leads with energy financing program, but work remains, by Andy Balaskovitz, MiBiz
A financing program in Holland that helps residents pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades remains one of the only such programs in Michigan, and could be a model for more to come. Known as on-bill financing, the program allows Holland Board of Public Works customers to obtain a loan through the utility’s nonprofit arm to pay the upfront cost of projects.
NEW CLIMATE ACTION RESOURCE
- ‘How We Respond’ Shows What U.S. Communities Are Doing to Address Climate Change, American Association For The Advancement of Science. Communities across the United States are working with scientists and using scientific information to respond to climate change, according to the “How We Respond” report released Sept. 16 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This new resource shares perspectives, multimedia and project details that 18 communities have developed to address local impacts of climate change or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Dane County Featured In National Climate Change Study, Wisconsin Public Radio
VERGE VANGUARD 2019 AWARDS
GreenBiz names 2019 VERGE Vanguard award winners
GreenBiz Group today named the 2019 VERGE Vanguard, honoring 20 dreamers, pioneers, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, business leaders, policymakers and investors on the cutting edge of sustainability and technology.
GREEN BIZ WEBCAST
5 Steps for Embedding ESG Into Your Corporate Culture: September 17, 2019 at 12 PM
If you can’t tune in live, please register and we will email you a link to access the archived webcast footage and slides, available to you on-demand after the webcast.
The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Board of Directors on Monday approved 21 stakeholder policy recommendations on critical issues, such as enhancing reliability and cost allocation for new transmission. The SPP’s Holistic Integrated Tariff Team (HITT), made up of 15 stakeholders, offered 
Solar Homes Report by the Environment Maine Research and Policy Center.