Commercial, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 16, 2017

Iowa, Illinois lead corporate clean energy rankings

Out of all 50 states, Iowa was recently named as the easiest place for corporations to purchase renewable energy to power their operations. 

The Hawkeye State topped a ranking of the states — created by Clean Edge, the Retail Industry Leaders Assocation and the 

Information Technology Industry Council — based upon existing state policies and corporate renewable energy deployment. According to the groups, the index consists of 15 indicators tracking both policy and deployment activities in three categories: utility purchasing options, third-party purchasing options and onsite/direct deployment options.

According to a report outlining the rankings, Iowa led the index with an overall score of 74.73, nearly six points ahead of Illinois, which nabbed the number two spot with a score of 68.79. New Jersey, California and Texas rounded out the top fives. Those states were followed by Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

The report, "The Corporate Clean Energy Procurement Index: State Leadership & Rankings," names wind-friendly Iowa's big strength as offsite utility-scale deployment of clean energy. The state joins Oklahoma, Virginia and North Carolina as the only states with what the report classifies as "measurable deployment" through green tariffs and/ or direct utility purchases, which comprise 548 MW in Iowa, and offsite power purchase agreements, which in Iowa total 114 MW.

That 114 MW is likely attributable solely to Google, which in 2010 became one of the first corporations to enter into a long-term contract for a large-scale clean energy project with its first such agreement to purchase all of the electricity —114 MW — from NextEra Energy Resources' Story County II wind facility in the state.

The report, available in the Smart Energy Decisions research center, was created to help guide RILA and ITI members as well as other companies in their pursuit of clean energy to power their operations in the U.S. The report explains further: 

While created on behalf of RILA and ITI, the index is broadly applicable to many other stakeholders, including other business sectors, the military, higher education, healthcare, and state and local government. It is intended to assist policymakers and large RE buyers in advancing policies that help, not hinder, RE development. It can also help large RE buyers to select states in which they may make RE investments. These investments, in turn, drive broader societal benefits, such as job growth, increased tax revenue, and lower air emissions. 

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