Green tips: Blue Sky supports renewable energy

The Blue Sky Energy program has been in existence for over 20 years. Similar to donating to a nonprofit organization, Blue Sky participants can invest their dollars and support the future of renewable energy.

By registering in Blue Sky by purchasing blocks, a company or resident creates demand for renewable energy sources in our region. To date, Blue Sky has supported over 9.2 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy across the Western region. This is the equivalent of energy for approximately 938,000 homes for a year!

The Blue Sky program you can join requires no upfront costs or a contract. Customers choose their level of support.

The funds are used to purchase Green-e Energy Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from renewable energy sources. Their dollars also go toward funding small and medium-sized local renewable energy projects (over 189 to date), such as rooftop solar installations for homeless shelters, fire stations, schools and more.

The blocks represent 100 kWh of energy and cost $1.95 per block. You can find a list of some of the Blue Sky projects installed via block payment here: https://www.rockymountainpower.net/community/blue-sky-projects.html. To learn more or to sign up, visit rockymountainpower.net/bluesky.

Another opportunity to support the local transition to renewable energy sources is the Utah Renewable Communities Program, created in 2021 following the passage of HB411 (Utah’s Renewable Energy Act) in 2019.

This coalition of 18 cities, counties and towns is committed to bringing clean energy to Utah as early as 2025. This program differs from Blue Sky in that it supports the development of large-scale renewable energy available to all Rocky Mountain customers Power.

Blue Sky is a certificate-based program that helps our utility acquire and retire RECs, while the URC program will deliver electricity directly to our grid. The goal of the URC program is to provide enough renewable energy from solar and wind to ultimately provide 100% net electricity to Rocky Mountain Power customers, including Park City, Summit County, Francis, Oakley and Coalville.

Once the program receives approval from the Utah Public Utilities Commission and is ready to launch, the current coalition will choose which new renewable energy project to bring online. Support the URC program by subscribing to updates at https://www.utahrenewablecommunities.org/.

The promising thing is that renewable energy sources have developed enough in Utah to give us, as consumers, choices. Both programs are critical and we should be grateful that Blue Sky opened the doors to their programs when they did. The more we can do as individuals to support our clean energy future, the better.

Recycle Utah, your local nonprofit recycling center, shares these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – http://www.recycleutah.org.