Midwestern Large-Scale Renewable Electricity

Institutions across the Midwest are looking for ways to lower energy procurement costs while achieving renewable energy procurement goals but are challenged to meet these goals due to cost and complexity.

MHEC is regularly asked about possible energy initiative opportunities, particularly in the sustainable energy context. As a result, MHEC convened an advisory committee of college sustainability officers to assess the need and viability of a regional initiative in sustainable energy.  After a series of meetings, the advisory committee proposed numerous sustainability initiative ideas, and unanimously prioritized undertaking a cooperative procurement program for renewable energy.  

Many campuses have longstanding commitments to energy and sustainability goals. Furthermore, third-party forecasts predict long-term rising energy costs. As “forever” institutions, colleges and universities are positioned to take a long-term perspective on energy costs. Conversely, the market for large-scale renewable energy procurement is relatively new, complex, and opaque. The advisory committee proposed a cooperative purchasing program designed to assist Midwestern campuses in the pursuit of large-scale renewable energy solutions that reduce energy price risk and control long-term energy costs through power purchase agreements (PPAs). PPAs from renewable energy projects offer fixed cost electricity over the long term, providing a cost-effective strategy for achieving sustainability goals while controlling energy costs and reducing energy price risk.

The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) is working with Second Nature, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and a group of higher education institutions on an initiative to enable institutions to join together in large-scale renewable electricity purchasing to achieve these economic and environmental goals.