Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has announced plans to purchase enough renewable energy to replace half of the electricity it currently uses in California.
The decision was made in hopes of reducing the system's greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by 30 percent by 2020 (as of the system's levels in 2008). The purchase as part of a national sustainable energy policy Kaiser launched in 2012.
Highlighted below are 10 details from Kaiser's energy purchase plan.
- The system will purchase the green energy produced from 110 megawatts of solar energy from a solar plant in Riverside County, Calif. The energy will be purchased from NextEra Energy Resources — a renewable energy generator — through a 20-year contract.
- Kaiser will also purchase 43 megawatts of wind power energy output produced by a NextEra wind turbine farm in Altamont Pass, Calif.
- As part of Kaiser's agreement with NextEra, the health system will support the construction and operation of new wind turbines on a Riverside County farm to replace older, less efficient windmills with more efficient equipment.
- Kaiser will begin using power from the solar and wind plants in 2016.
- The system's third purchase is part of a separate 20-year agreement with NRG Energy — an independent power producer — under which Kaiser will purchase 70 megawatts of onsite solar production.
- Kaiser plans to add rooftop and ground-mounted solar panels to 170 hospitals and other campuses in California, the first phase of which will begin later in 2015.
- The three projects are poised to help Kaiser achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goal three years ahead of schedule.
- The three renewable energy projects are expected to generate roughly 590 million kilowatt hours of power each year, roughly the same amount of electricity used annually by 82,000 U.S. homes.
- Kaiser's green energy purchases and other energy consumption reduction initiatives are slated to decrease the system's gas emissions by 617,000 metric tons by 2017 alone.
- The renewable energy projects and purchases will secure Kaiser Permanente as one of the top users of green power in the country.
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