by Mike Sloan, Dec. 4, 2010.
In response to our post of Oct. 8, some have questioned whether San Antonio is doing more “green” than Austin if adjustment were made for the relative size of the utilities. The short answer is “yes” in categories of solar, wind and total renewables but “no” for energy efficiency.
Austin –vs- San Antonio
With completion of the Blue Wing solar plant in November, San Antonio now has about 3-times as much installed solar capacity as in Austin Austin. San Antonio has about 2-times as much wind power capacity as Austin.
For those who believe size matters, there are a number of different metrics that can be compared. In the table below, we have adjusted the comparison of updated installed capacity numbers based on the two utilities’ relative (1) number of customers (2) total MWh sales, and (3) total electric sector revenues.
This “size-adjusted” comparison shows that CPS Energy leads Austin Energy in the Green Power Smackdown for solar (by 64% up to 89%, depending on metric used), wind (by 14% to 31%) and total renewable MW (by 14% to 31%).
Denton Tops for Green Power Use
If broadening the “Smackdown” on renewable energy use to all city-owned utilities in Texas, Denton has surged ahead of its bigger brethren on the I-35 corridor.
Denton Municipal Utility reports it has “approximately 60 megawatts of renewable energy that comprises about 40% of its energy portfolio on an average yearly basis”
While substantiation of that level of renewable energy use (40%) has not yet been provided by the City of Denton, PowerSmack’s analysis indicates Denton is already recieving 15% or more of its energy from a single wind project (Wolf Ridge), which would place Denton Municipal Utility ahead of both CPS Energy and Austin Energy, which are both using approximately 10% to 12% renewable energy at present.
