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Columbia Sees Promising Renewable Energy Numbers

The City of Columbia recently released its 2018 renewable energy report, which showed that Columbia now gets more than 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources. The city set a goal in 2004 to reach 5 percent throughout 2017 and 15 percent by the end of 2017. Last year, the city received about 15.7 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

Lucia Bourgeois, a spokesperson for Columbia Water and Light, attributed a large part of the city’s success to a wind power contract signed in January 2017.

“I believe it was almost seven percent, that was probably over half of the contribution,” Bourgeois said. “The 2017 goal was exceeded by almost 10 percent, but for 2018 we’re exactly where we need to be.”

The city’s mark of 15.7 percent was a major uptick from 6.7 percent in 2016. The city’s future goals are to reach a point where 25 percent of its energy use is renewable by the end of 2022 and 30 percent by the end of 2028.