Broad River, Jonesville School Celebrate Green Power

Broad River Electric Cooperative and Jonesville Elementary/Middle School celebrated 10 years of Green Power in South Carolina on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 with a commemorative tree-planting to symbolize the sustainability and environmental benefits of renewable energy.

South Carolinians began powering their homes and business with Santee Cooper Green Power 10 years ago this fall, when the state’s first Green Power Generating Station went online at the Horry County Landfill. Today, Santee Cooper generates 28 megawatts of Gree Power from generating stations fueled by landfill gas, solar and wind energy. In partnership with the state’s 20 electric cooperatives, that Green Power is distributed to the state’s electrical grid and offered for sale to customers in all 46 counties of South Carolina.

The cooperatives work with Santee Cooper to sell that Green Power at a premium to interested customers. Santee Cooper then reinvests 100 percent of those Green Power revenues in new renewable energy projects that benefit the state.

“The way that we consume and generate energy must change for the sake of our environment, security, and the economy,” said Josh Crotzer, Member Services Representative for Broad River Electric Cooperative. “With the help of Santee Cooper and the Green Power initiative, we are investing in a better future of energy use and generation.”

In the past decade, Santee Cooper has generated approximately 580,000 megawatt-hours of Green Power and sold 163,559 megawatt-hours of that to customers. Those Green Power sales are equivalent in today’s terms to the electricity needed to power nearly 15, 000 average American homes for one year or avoid the annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 24,000 vehicles. For more details, visit www.scgreenpower.com.

Broad River Electric Cooperative and Jonesville Elementary/Middle School have their own joint history generating Green Power, as partners in the Green Power Solar School, which was dedicated at the school’s campus on October 19, 2010. The Green Power Solar School program is another partnership between the state’s electric cooperatives and Santee Cooper, designed to help teach middle school students about the opportunities and challenges associated with renewable energy.

For more about Green Power click here.