Overview
PPI and its member cooperatives promote renewable energy through their renewable energy policies/strategies, membership in the National Renewable Energy Cooperative (NRCO) and research and investments in renewable generation resources.
PPI Renewable Energy Policy/Strategy
PPI’s Consumer Owned Generation policy encourages consumer-owned, on-site electric generation facilities using renewable energy resources. Renewable energy resources are defined as including, solar, wind, dedicated crops grown for electricity generation, anaerobic digestion of livestock or food processing waste, fuel cells or micro turbines powered by renewable fuels or hydroelectric energy.
PPI Investments in Renewable Energy Resources
PPI joined the National Renewable Cooperative Organization, (NRCO) a national cooperative owned and governed by electric cooperatives to facilitate the development of cost effective and reliable renewable energy resources, in 2010. PPI and its member cooperatives are joined by 23 other electric cooperatives around the country in their membership and utilization of NRCO.
PPI Solar Farm PPA
PPI purchases 24 MW of solar-generated electricity through a Power Purchase Agreement with the Big River Solar Farm, a 149 MW facility in White County, Illinois. PPI will own the renewable energy credits (RECs) associated with its 24 MWs during the final 5 years of its contract. All the energy produced by the Big River Solar Farm is purchased by Illinois non-profit organizations, including 124 MW from Illinois electric cooperatives, demonstrating the important role electric cooperatives have in enabling new renewable generating resources built in Illinois. The solar farm began commercial operations in 2022.
The solar arrays span 1,000 acres of leased land and will provide over $15 million in new property tax income for White County over the life of the project.
PPI Wind Farm P
PA
PPI purchases 20 MW of wind energy and RECs through a Power Purchase Agreement with Pioneer Trail Wind Farm, LLC (PTWF). PPI resells some of the RECs and does not claim the renewable attributes for resold RECs within our own supply portfolio. The wind farm consists of 94 GE 1.6 MW turbines located in Ford and Iroquois counties in east central Illinois and can generate as much as 150.5 MW. The wind farm began commercial operations in 2012.
The site encompasses more than 12,000 acres of land, with the turbines occupying approximately 2-3% of this land mass. Local benefits include an estimated $29 million in local tax revenues, $8 million in local salaries, and over $50 million in landowner leases over the project’s expected 25-45 year life cycle. The wind farm provides clean, emissions-free energy to approximately 45,000 households.
PPI Member Cooperatives Renewable Energy Policies/Strategies
PPI’s member electric distribution cooperatives have renewable energy generation policies that are consistent with PPI’s renewable energy generation policy. Various of PPI’s member cooperatives allow net metering for distributed generation resources of 10 or 20 kW or less.
PPI Member Cooperatives Investments in Renewable Energy
PPI’s member cooperatives continue to see consumer member interest in developing small scale renewable energy resources. Two of PPI’s current cooperative members, i.e., Adams Electric Cooperative (Camp Point, IL) and Illinois Electric Cooperative (Winchester, IL) own and operate renewable energy generation facilities. PPI’s Renewable Generation and Energy Policy allows and encourages the development of renewable energy projects by its Member cooperatives and their consumer-members, and includes provisions for PPI’s purchase of the renewable energy produced or purchased, providing that it is reliable, economically generated, and physically located on PPI or PPI Member cooperative owned facilities.