New US wind plant to generate VERs
Nextera Energy has built the first US wind plant to generate carbon offsets to the VCS standard.
The voluntary emission reductions (VERs) will be sourced from Nextera Energy’s Capricorn Ridge Energy Center in West Texas.
The 112.5 MW wind farm is estimated to generate 212,000 VERs a year beginning in 2010.
It is unusual for developers in the US to choose to generate carbon offsets from wind energy as most firms opt to source renewable energy certificates (RECs) from these kinds of projects, which generally fetch a higher price than VERs.
But Tina Reine, manager of carbon markets at Nextera Energy, said the firm wants to support the carbon market.
“It is a way for us to show commitment to the carbon markets,” said Reine.
“There is already a lot of REC generation. To back the carbon market we need to show action in this area.”
The company chose the VCS because it “is a very robust standard,” said Reine.
“Most people in the carbon world know the VCS. It is not sure the VCS will be included in a compliance programme, but it is still a good standard.”
Reine added the company had to overcome many obstacles to completing the project, including building transmission lines to transport energy produced from the wind farm to the electricity grid.
Nextera is also in the process of validating a second wind energy project in Texas that has a total capacity of 214.5 MW.
This project will also be validated to the VCS standard.
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