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City Light Acquires Wind Farm’s Renewable Energy Credits

Seattle City Light has reached an agreement with Idaho Winds to purchase all the renewable energy credits from the company’s 22 megawatt Sawtooth Wind Project from 2015 to 2029 for approximately $1 million per year.

Purchasing the renewable energy credits created by Idaho Winds’ Sawtooth project will help City Light in its effort to meet the requirements of Initiative 937. Under I-937, large Washington utilities must obtain at least 15 percent of their electricity from new renewable energy resources by 2020.

“This agreement provides excellent value for Seattle City Light’s customer-owners,” Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said. “It provides the utility with some of the renewable energy credits we need to meet our environmental requirements under I-937, at the time when we’ll need them, and at an affordable price.”

The Sawtooth Wind Project is being built on a sugar beet farm about 60 miles east of Boise, Idaho. Construction is expected to be completed by December.

Idaho beet farm where the Sawtooth Wind Project is being built.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.