About 16% of the electricity sold in the District of Columbia last year came from renewable energy sources, according to data released Monday by the city’s utility regulators.
Local laws require electricity providers to deliver 100% renewable energy by 2032, and by 2041 15% of that must come from local solar facilities. The biennial fuel assessment to the D.C. City Council shows “solid progress towards securing a cleaner fuel mix for residents and businesses,” according to regulators.
There were four dozen competitive suppliers and Pepco, the city’s default service provider, serving the city’s roughly 700,000 residents last year, according to the report. Electricity sales rose 3% above 2020 totals to almost 10.2 million MWh.
“Consumption continues to slowly recover over the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the fuel assessment. “Actual electric sales are also influenced by weather impacts, continued gains in energy efficiency, and increasing local solar energy production.”
Since 2016 the city’s carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by approximately 18% and emissions of nitrogen oxide, which contributes to smog and acid rain, showed a decline of roughly 56%, according to the report. Sulfur dioxide emissions were down nearly 67% in the same period.
A significant number of solar power systems were added to the city’s energy mix in 2022 despite supply chain constraints, the lingering impacts of the pandemic and other market challenges, according to the commission. A May report on renewable portfolio standard compliance showed 2,147 new solar energy systems added last year, of which 82 were community renewable facilities.
In total, at the end of 2022 there were 11,815 solar energy systems in the District certified for its RPS program, representing about 184 MW of capacity. Community installations in the city totaled 36.4 MW.
“The District continues to achieve meaningful progress on its renewable energy goals and remains a recognized leading jurisdiction within the larger PJM Interconnection regional grid,” according to the city’s fuel assessment. The report, however, ”may not fully include the effects of some large power purchase agreements structured between certain parties in bilateral contracts,” regulators cautioned.
