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Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)

April 11, 2003
Section: Business
Edition: Final
Page: C2

Green Mountain Energy, one of three companies that sell green power to Niagara Mohawk customers, announced Thursday that it has acquired the energy produced by an 11.5-megawatt wind farm in Madison.

The company plans to launch a direct mail campaign within the next few weeks to sell the wind power to Central New York consumers, said Rich Travaglini, regional director of sales and marketing. Under a program that began in September, three companies offer green power - various blends of wind power, hydropower and biomass power - that Niagara Mohawk customers can obtain by paying a premium above their normal electric supply charge.

Customers who participate in the program don't switch power suppliers, but pay extra for an amount of renewable energy equal to their usage. The premium supports marketers such as Green Mountain Energy and the generating companies they buy power from, such as PG&E National Energy Group, owner of the Madison wind farm.

Like all generating companies, wind farm operators sell power - and deliver it - to the state's wholesale energy market. They earn a premium from retail customers who by the so-called "green tag" associated with the power, which represents the environmental benefits of the renewable energy.

Those green tags are what Green Mountain has acquired from the Madison facility.

Green Mountain's retail product, half wind power and half hydropower, costs 1.3 cents per kilowatt-hour extra for a Niagara Mohawk customer. For a typical residential customer, that's about $7 a month, company officials said.

Buying green power cuts emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants associated with traditional power sources, said Thomas Rawls, chief environmental officer at Green Mountain. Rawls said the average homeowner's purchase of green power is equivalent to not driving a car two days a week.

About 6,000 of Niagara Mohawk's 1.5 million customers have signed with one of the three green power marketers. The other companies in the program are Community Energy, of Wayne, Pa., and Sterling Planet, of Alpharetta, Ga.

For more information, or to sign up, contact the marketers:

Community Energy :

(866) 946-3123 or www.newwindenergy.com

Green Mountain Energy :

(888) 246-6730 or www.greenmountain.com

Sterling Planet :

(800) 473-1362 or www.sterlingplanet.com

Illustration: PHOTO
Al Campanie/The Post-Standard
SOME OF the more than 20 windmills that make up a wind farm in Fenner,
Madison County. Green Mountain Energy said Thursday that it has
acquired the rights to the energy produced by one of the wind farms in
Madison County. Color.

Copyright, 2003, The Herald Company
Purchased for use on the Borodino Bullett.