U.S. wind farm is a first for clean and renewable energy

CHICAGO, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A wind farm built in Oklahoma by Spanish company ACCIONA is a major breakthrough in widening the use of clean and renewable energy in the United States.

Environmental politics and international bargaining over carbon dioxide emissions have much to do with a growing energy industry interest in becoming involved with popular, ecologically friendly and potentially lucrative projects that help minimize the threat of climate change through environmental pollution.

ACCIONA's Red Hills Wind Farm is the first in the U.S. to be validated and registered under the Voluntary Carbon Standard. VCS is a quality standard for voluntary carbon offset industry based on the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

VCS sets criteria for validating, measuring, and monitoring carbon offset projects.

Until the wind farm was established, Oklahoma had no renewable power solutions and therefore could not generate compliance certificates for renewable energy, an evolving and complex market throughout North America and gradually gaining ground in South America.

Red Hill's wind power is calculated to displace 0.67 metric tons of carbon dioxide for each megawatt-hour produced.

"We're proud that the carbon reductions from Red Hills Wind Farm will be added to our high quality portfolio of U.S. carbon offset projects," the company said.

The VCS Program provides a global standard for approval of credible voluntary offsets. TerraPass has contracted to purchase a portion of the Voluntary Carbon Units from the Red Hills project. Once bought, TerraPass said it will be able to retire the VCUs on behalf of its customers.

The complex technological jargon employed by scientists and the carbon reduction industry is usually lost on the ultimate beneficiary, the public. What matters, however, is the increase in international private and public sector efforts to promote renewable forms of energy.

The validation process, for example, is studded with forbidding and stringent methodology that governs renewable energy projects registered under the Kyoto Protocol's flexibility mechanisms.

Validating the Red Hills Wind Farm was a lengthy process with third-party confirmation ensuring that the Red Hills project met all the requirements of VCS and the selected methodology.

"In the current business climate, creating alternatives for utilizing all the renewable attributes of our projects is key to our success," said Peter Duprey, CEO, ACCIONA Energy North America.

He said the company had opened new avenues for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.

"We are very proud to bring the internationally recognized VCS certification to the U.S. renewable energy market and encourage other wind producers to do the same."

The VCS was developed to standardize and lend credibility to the voluntary offset market. Specifically, the VCS has created a trusted and tradable voluntary offset credit, the Voluntary Carbon Unit. Accreditation from the VCS ensures a clear chain of ownership over voluntary offsets and prevents them from being used twice.

"TerraPass customers tell us that they want their money to support renewable energy projects and now we have a great VCS wind project in ACCIONA's Red Hills Wind Farm," said Erin Craig, CEO of TerraPass.

"We're proud that the carbon reductions from Red Hills Wind Farm will be added to our high quality portfolio of U.S. carbon offset projects," he said.

The 123-megawatt Red Hills Wind Farm was developed and installed by ACCIONA with an investment of $252 million. It consists of 82 ACCIONA Windpower 1.5-megawatt turbines. Red Hills can generate enough clean energy to supply more than 40,000 U.S. homes.

ACCIONA Energy is a world leader in renewable energies with a major presence in the main clean technologies, as developer and services provider.

ACCIONA Energy belongs to the ACCIONA group, one of Spain's leading corporations, with operations in infrastructure, energy, water and services in more than 30 countries. ACCIONA, leader of its sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, has a workforce of over 41,000 employees. It had sales of 12,665 million euros in 2008.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/01/28/US-wind-farm-is-a-first-for-clean-and-renewable-energy/UPI-82761264717407/.