What does it mean nationally — if anything — if national leader Austin is seen as faltering in selling green power?

Gürcan Gülen, CEE

Gürcan Gülen, Center for Energy Economics (CEE), Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas.  It is significant; and it already attracted attention as NY Times coverage indicates. But, there are other champions.  There are 8 utilities with more installed wind capacity, and 4 utilities with larger wind share of retail sales than Austin Energy; and few others pretty close to Austin Energy (see recent DOE/EERE study, 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report).

Ed Holt, consultant

Ed Holt, Consultant. If Austin Energy backed away from its GreenChoice program, it would be a  huge loss for the green power movement and for customer choice  generally. Austin Energy has been in NREL’s Top 10 lists of utility  green power programs for years. Even people who don’t know the details  of one program versus another know about Austin Energy’s leadership on  green power. Austin’s leadership with its innovative cost hedging program has featured heavily in presentations and papers such as NREL’s 2008 report, /Renewable Energy Price-Stability Benefits in Utility Green  Power Programs. /If Austin Energy were to drop its program, it would  send the wrong signal—a signal that would reverberate nationally.

Karl Rábago, AE

Karl Rábago, Distributed Energy Services, Austin Energy. What do all the news stories about Austin Energy’s GreenChoice™ program mean? They mean that the only constant is change. They mean that markets constantly evolve and that winning strategies need to be continuously adapted to those changing circumstances. They mean that programs designed to merely introduce renewable energy into an electric service system may not be able to accomplish the same results after a decade of implementation without thoughtful and purposeful transformation. It means that if Austin Energy expects to remain a leader in green power, some things must change. Watch this space.

Blaine Collison, EPA

Blaine Collision, Green Power Partnership, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Austin Energy’s successes in offering price-hedging benefits in
association with renewable electricity have been a tremendous example for the energy markets and electricity providers across the U.S.  The program has often been part of the discussion on the range of economic
and environmental benefits offered by renewables.  It would be unusual for the voluntary green power market to evolve from where it has been to where we are all working to take it without some challenges along the way.  In general, we learn more from our challenges and are strengthened by our efforts to address them.