Virtual Power Purchase Agreements
Through innovative collaborations called Virtual Power Purchase Agreements, or VPPAs, Cambridge helped make two solar and wind projects in Illinois and North Dakota possible. In return, the City and its partners will receive Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs. These certificates allow them to count this new clean electricity toward reducing their local greenhouse gas emissions.
Through the first project — a 74-turbine wind farm called Bowman Wind — Cambridge’s greenhouse gas emissions from municipal electricity use fell to net zero. That means the impact on the climate from generating all the electricity the City uses is fully balanced out by new clean energy.
The second project — 800-acre Prairie Solar — is the largest-ever VPPA made directly by a U.S. city to reduce its community’s emissions. Through Cambridge Community Electricity, the City’s group buying program, Cambridge’s portion of the RECs will generate enough renewable energy to cover the average annual energy consumption of more than 25,000 Cambridge homes, nearly half the City’s households.
Cambridge residents and businesses now receive 75% renewable energy — more than ever before.
Click the button below for the full story of how these groundbreaking VPPAs came about.
