Wind Fest!

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Wind Fest at the turbine!

Come on down to the Portsmouth Wind Turbine for the Wind Fest from 10:30am-1:30pm today near the basketball court at Portsmouth High School.

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“You, too, can support the Town of Portsmouth’s wind turbine!” was the rallying cry at People’s Power & Light’s Wind Fest May 22nd at the Portsmouth High School. Portsmouth residents, People’s Power & Light members, and prospective members gathered to celebrate the wind turbine and to garner support for more projects like it throughout the state.

The Wind Fest celebrated the turbine’s successful first year of operation. It produced a total of 3,625,950 kilowatt-hours during its first 12 months of operation, and has now surpassed 4 million kilowatt-hours.

People’s Power & Light members invited friends and relatives to see the wind turbine and find out about how to enroll in the New England GreenStartSM program. With more members, People’s Power & Light will be able to support more projects like Portsmouth’s. “Together we can build a more sustainable future in New England,” said Deputy Director Karina Lutz.

For National Grid customers, the utility’s “GreenUp” program gives residential and small commercial customers the choice to switch to green power right on their utility bill. People’s Power & Light’s offering is New England GreenStart. Normally, more than 95% of Rhode Islanders’ electricity comes from burning fossil fuels & nuclear power, but when they sign up for GreenStart, People's Power & Light ensures that an amount equal to their electric usage comes onto the New England electric grid from renewable sources.

From the customer’s point of view, it couldn’t be easier. They still pay one bill to National Grid for both the electricity and the GreenStart portion (an additional 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, or about $12 for the average residential customer). Then National Grid passes the premium through to People’s Power & Light, who pays a premium to renewable energy generators for its members’ energy usage.
To sign up, customers can use www.ripower.org, or call (401)861-6111.

As New England GreenStart members buy green power, their payments help the Town of Portsmouth to pay off the debt they incurred to buy and install the turbine. Net metering proceeds from the utility also provide the town income as well. With the great wind, and mechanical success, the fund was cash-positive this year. "As any sailor knows, you don't win the race on one good leg. But we're very happy they are off to such a good start," said Lutz. Portsmouth is distributing a portion of the net revenue to the school department and its’ municipal operations while keeping a cash set-aside for future contingencies and will be able to parlay this set-aside income into more sustainable energy projects to benefit the community.

People’s Power & Light also provides an off-the-bill choice called New England Wind FundSM, which is also supporting the Portsmouth project. New England Wind Fund is People’s Power & Light’s green power option that works for larger energy users and people who don’t pay their own utility bills, or for a one-time donation, such as to off-set the energy use of a wedding or another event.

Hi, Karina...
Thanks for all this good info -- and for organizing the Wind Fest. Jack and I had fun on Saturday.

Best Regards.
--John