Syracuse, NY – April 10, 2003 – Green Mountain Energy Company (http://www.greenmountain.com ),
the nation’s largest and fastest growing retail provider of cleaner electricity, announced today that it has purchased virtually all of the environmental
attributes associated with the wind output from PG&E National Energy Group’s Madison Windpower facility near Hamilton in
Madison County, NY. The wind generation from the facility will be used to help meet the demand for customers purchasing
Green Mountain Energy® electricity through the Niagara Mohawk Renewable Energy Program.
Under terms of the agreement, Green Mountain Energy Company purchased virtually all of the environmental attributes
associated with the wind output from the Madison Windpower facility through 2004. The seven wind turbines, located on
farmland east of Syracuse, have a capacity of 11.5 megawatts and will generate 100 percent pollution-free wind output
to meet the demand of Green Mountain Energy® electricity customers.
“Green Mountain Energy Company’s mission is to change the way power is made,” stated A. Clifton Payne Jr.,
eastern region president for Green Mountain Energy Company. “Our Niagara Mohawk Renewable Energy Program customers
are already helping support new renewable electricity generation in New York State. Thanks to their demand for
pollution-free electricity, Green Mountain Energy Company will support the Madison Windpower facility with wind purchases
for the next two years.”
Payne explained that under the new program, approved by the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC),
Niagara Mohawk utility customers can elect to have their electricity produced from cleaner and renewable
resources -- without switching electric providers. As a result, residential and commercial customers from Albany
to Buffalo can now choose 100 percent pollution-free Green Mountain Energy® electricity.
“New York households now have an easy and powerful way to reduce their share of CO2 pollution. In fact, an average*
New York household purchasing Green Mountain Energy® electricity for an entire
year can avoid over 3,100 pounds of CO2, said, Thomas H. Rawls, Chief Environmental Officer for Green Mountain Energy
Company. ”That’s as much CO2 as a car makes in over 3,400 miles of driving. It would take over 200 trees an entire year
to remove that much CO2 from the air,”
Green Mountain Energy Company began marketing its 100 percent pollution-free electricity to Niagara Mohawk customers
in upstate New York in September 2002.
Green Mountain Energy Company is a pioneer in supporting the development of wind power facilities by creating
consumer demand for renewable electricity. The 10.5 megawatt Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm in southwestern
Pennsylvania was the first utility-scale wind power project in Pa. and largest such facility on the East Coast at the
time it began commercial operation in 2000.
PG&E National Energy Group’s Madison Windpower facility went into commercial operation in October 2000,
delivering electricity to the New York Independent System Operator.
About Green Mountain Energy Company
Founded in 1997 to “change the way power is made”, Green Mountain Energy Company
(http://www.greenmountain.com ) sells cleaner electricity
generated from sources such as wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass and natural gas to residential, business,
institutional and governmental customers. More than half a million customers in California, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas have chosen Green Mountain Energy ® electricity, which is dramatically less-polluting
than typical system power in those states. The company is based in Austin, Texas.
* The average NY household uses 534-kilowatt hours of electricity. One-kilowatt hour equals 1,000 watt hours,
which is the same as running a 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours, or ten 100-watt light bulbs for one hour.
SOURCE Green Mountain Energy Company
