As one component of Objective #2.3, campus will continue transitioning to clean energy sources for power. When calculating our total clean electricity use, we include only power that has associated Renewable Energy Certifications (REC) in our possession. Thus, the changes in the regional electrical grid,[1] sometimes referred to as “greening of the grid,” do not impact our reporting of clean power consumed. This is consistent with the requirements of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership reporting system and the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides.[2]

Figure 12 illustrates the sources for all electricity used on campus in FY19. As shown, approximately 7.3% of our power was generated directly from clean energy sources. The total of 31,854 MWh/year of clean electricity was acquired from both on-campus solar energy (7,128 MWh) and off-campus wind energy (24,726 MWh). Completion of Solar Farm 2.0 will increase campus clean energy usage to more than 50,000 MWh/year, which will surpass 10% of our existing power demand. This is excellent progress.

Figure 12: FY19 Campus Power Sources

To continue building on these successes, we have set the goal to use 140,000 MWh/year of electricity from clean power sources (i.e., approximately 35% of our annual power demand) by FY25. This requires purchasing clean energy from off campus, and we have been investigating options to do so. The Energy SWATeam submitted a recommendation in May 2018 to seek an off-campus solar PPA for meeting this objective. We are hopeful that a VPPA for 90,000 MWh/year of solar power will be a viable method for achieving this objective and launching a new solar array in Illinois for clear additionality.

[1] Campus is in egrid subregion SRMW = SERC Midwest, see https://bit.ly/31618rh 

[2] https://bit.ly/3fmG31f