Austin Energy is exploring renewable energy options, focusing strongly on wind power and increasing the availability of clean energy for customers.

Senior Strategy Engineer for Austin Energy Mark Kapner spoke with the Ecology and the Environment Freshmen Studies class on Nov. 3 regarding Austin’s energy sources and what the future holds for the municipally owned electricity provider.

Wind power is the most promising source of renewable energy for the state of Texas, Kapner said.

“If Texas were a country—we won’t go any further there—we would be the sixth highest producers of wind energy,” Kapner said during his lecture.

Though Texas produces more wind power than any other state, renewable energy accounts for just seven percent of the state’s energy sources. A combination of coal, natural gas and nuclear power make up the rest of the 93 percent.

In his presentation, Kapner noted that 10 years ago, Texas did not receive any of its energy from renewable energy sources. He projects the present 7 percent will more than double to 15 percent in the next five years. Wind energy will likely be responsible for much of Kapner’s projected growth.

“Wind energy is the most rapidly growing and largest renewable energy source we have,” Kapner said.

What this means for Austin Energy and its customers is increased access to renewable energy, available through Austin Energy’s GreenChoice program.

GreenChoice is a voluntary green power program in which subscribers pay a fixed price for fuel charges for five years. A fuel charge is the rate charged per kilowatt hour for the amount of fuel needed to produce power, which is used as electricity.

“It’s available to all customers,” Kapner said. “We’ve had this program in place since 2000.”

St. Edward’s University, a customer of Austin Energy, purchased 480,000-kilowatt hours of wind energy for the John Brooks Williams Natural Sciences Center at a fixed rate of 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Director of Physical Plant Michael Peterson.

Initially, the fixed price is higher than what customers outside the GreenChoice program are paying. The difference in price is a few cents per kWh. Since the price of fuel varies, customers can benefit from paying the fixed price if the price of fuel increases.

Austin Energy uses the money generated from charging the higher price initially to purchase renewable energy.

“For Austin Energy, the way we offer this fixed price is by doing long-term purchases of renewable energy,” Kapner said in an interview.

According to a news release from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Austin Energy sold the most renewable energy to customers of all the electricity providers in the U.S through the GreenChoice program.

“When a customer signs … it sets an obligation to bring in green energy,” Kapner said.

Editor’s Note: This article has been changed to reflect that Mark Kapner did not specifically remark on Austin Energy’s sales of renewable energy. And St. Edward’s purchases 480,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy.