A local group aiming to transition to cleaner energy plans to begin using wind energy from an Ohio-based wind farm, officials announced Friday.
The Western Pennsylvania Energy Consortium — which includes Pittsburgh and dozens of other municipalities, nonprofits and public benefit organizations — purchases electricity in bulk from renewable sources, allowing for lower costs and improved sustainability.
The consortium, which launched in 2007, allowed Pittsburgh and its partners to band together “to do something we could not do separately” to “modernize and improve” clean energy purchasing at affordable rates, said Jake Pawlak, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The measure was “essential to ensure we weren’t adding to the crisis of climate change,” Pawlak said. Pittsburgh earned a top climate protection award for its efforts in 2020.
Pawlak said Friday’s announcement that the group would be purchasing directly from an Ohio wind farm “is a really exciting turn for us.”
“This is just the beginning of our transition in this direction,” he said. “There’s a lot more work to do.”
Pawlak said energy produced from the wind farm will meet about 40% of the consortium’s energy needs over the next six years. Consortium members will not see energy rates increase through the deal, he said.
Houston, Texas-based NRG — which has partnered with the consortium to implement its clean energy strategy — brokered the deal, Pawlak said.
Will Pickering, CEO of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, a member of the consortium, said the authority uses “vast amounts of power” to distribute 70 million gallons of water per day, he said. The clean energy deal, he estimated, will remove about 14,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment.
Mayor Ed Gainey recalled being hospitalized as a child with asthma because of air quality problems that were worsened by fossil fuels. The mayor said transitioning to cleaner energy could help to alleviate such problems for other families in the region.
Gainey touted the new deal as an opportunity “to protect our environment by reducing our carbon footprint,” invest in future generations and protect people with health issues that may be exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels.
