Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bowdoin College grabs green power from UPC Wind

Bowdoin College has reached a three-year agreement to purchase renewable energy certificates from a wind farm run by UPC Wind.

Newton-based UPC Wind owns the Mars Hill Wind project in northern Maine, a utility-sized wind farm, from which Brunswick, Maine-based Bowdoin will purchase renewable energy certificates.

UPC Wind is also developing a wind farm in Danforth, Maine. The company said it expects that wind farm to contribute to the New England power grid by the end of the year.

Bowdoin said it is offsetting approximately 70 percent of its campus electricity use with voluntary renewable energy certificates produced in Maine. The college said 31 percent of its competitive electric supply is from renewable sources.

In December 2007, UPC Wind struck a 20-year agreement with the city of Los Angeles to provide the city with renewable power from the company's Utah-based Milford Wind Corridor project.

Founded in 2001, UPC Wind also operates offices in Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon and Hawaii.