Portland, Oregon has accumulated an impressive record of progressive energy policy since beginning to promote energy efficiency in the mid-1970s. In 1993, the city set out to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent below 1998 levels by the year 2010, for the purpose of lowering the city's impact on global climate.³⁰ To meet this ambitious target, the Portland Energy Office sought to use its purchasing power to bring new renewable resources on line. Eventually, the Portland city council mandated that 5 percent of its municipal electricity needs be supplied by clean, renewable wind power.³¹

The City of Portland's efforts demonstrate how municipal governments can purchase renewables even while continuing to obtain electric service from the incumbent utility. A five-year agreement with Portland General Electric (PGE) to buy 10 Mw of power from wind facilities was the outcome of discussions about aggregating the largest municipal accounts-primarily water pumping stations and the largest city government office building.

In a unique twist - one that nevertheless suggests a strategy for green municipal aggregation in other locales - Portland will return a portion of the savings from aggregating various government electricity accounts to ratepayers, and use the remainder to fund new renewable energy projects. After purchasing 11 million kilowatt-hours of wind-generated electricity over five years from a 10-Mw facility, Portland residents will still save $850,000. Even more gratifying to supporters of clean energy, who hope above all for the construction of new renewable energy facilities, Portland's decision prompted PGE to offer a new tariff for renewables; in response the city government opted to purchase another 8 Mw of wind power to power the city's street lights. PGE will generate this energy from a new 25-Mw project to be constructed in the future.

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