[OKC] FW: OU to get 100 percent of electricity from wind power

[Brunson, Laura R.]

>From http://www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/home/main/press/windpower.html:

NORMAN – Marking one of the largest renewable energy commitments ever by
a public university in the United States, the University of Oklahoma
Norman campus will purchase 100 percent of its electricity from wind
power by 2013 with the signing today of a wind power agreement with
Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company.

OU also plans to expand its use of vehicles powered by compressed
natural gas and will open a new cng refueling station at the new campus
motor pool. The Transportation Operations Center is set to open in
November.  It will also make the fueling station available to the city
of Norman for its vehicles.

OU will rank among the nation's top renewable-energy-purchasing
universities in the country.

OU President David Boren said, "It is our patriotic duty as Americans to
help our country achieve energy independence and to be sound stewards of
the environment.  All of us as Americans should unite in this effort. OU
is uniquely situated for leadership in this area not only because of the
conservation steps being announced today, but because of our academic
leadership in fields related to advanced oil and gas production,
enhanced recovery of fossil fuels, weather and climate research,
biofuels research and other areas."

"OU is proud to become a national role model for responsible stewardship
of the environment," said Boren.  "It is fitting -- given the history of
our state -- that the university should play a pioneering role," he said.

The agreement was signed by Boren and OG&E CEO Pete Delaney in the
Oklahoma Memorial Union at 2:30 p.m. before a large audience from the
university community.

OU is achieving the environmental benefits associated with wind energy
by supporting development of a new commercial-scale wind farm to be
constructed by OG&E near Woodward, Okla.  It will be named the "OU
Spirit" wind farm.  Increased reliance on wind energy will also grow the
state's economy.  Nearly a decade ago, OU researchers had the foresight
to create the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative.  Today, wind energy has
the potential to create more than 15,000 new jobs and $500 million a
year in property tax revenues in Oklahoma with appropriate investment in
research and job training.

"OU has for more than a century demonstrated its commitment to
developing Oklahoma's resources both for the benefit of the state and
for our global economy," said Delaney, OG&E's president, chairman and
CEO.  "At OG&E, we share that long-term commitment. We look forward to
developing one of the state's crucial resources for the benefit of one
of the state's most valued institutions."

President Boren also indicated that OU will continue to place a high
priority on its national leadership in oil and gas research.  OU's oil
and gas research will continue to focus on unconventional reservoirs
such as shale gas and tight gas sands.  It also will continue to have
many programs in enhanced recovery from existing oil and gas wells and
on improved drilling safety.

The wind farm will provide increasing amounts of renewable energy to
OU's Norman campus beginning with available wind power in 2008 and
expanding with wind power from the new facility when it begins
production in 2010.

"Nationally, wind energy is well on its way to becoming a major source
of electricity.  The Oklahoma economy is poised to receive up to $40
billion in wind energy investments and thousands of green collar jobs.
Those are jobs that will help us keep our best and brightest here at
home," said Mike Bergey, former President of the American Wind Energy
Association, a leading national wind power association, and current
President of the Norman Chamber of Commerce.  "I salute the clean energy
leadership of the University and President Boren.  OU has set a high bar
on stewardship and is strengthening the State's economy by purchasing
Oklahoma wind power.  It is also a great credit to OG&E for its bold
leadership in making this possible."

To further support OU's commitment, OG&E will establish internships and
scholarships for OU students whose studies are focused on renewable
energy as well as support campus events focusing on renewable energy.
The university will exercise its naming rights for the new wind farm by
naming it the "OU Spirit" wind farm.

This agreement with OG&E further establishes OU as a national leader in
renewable energy and the development of policies and institutions to
promote sustainable energy.  OU was an inaugural member of the Chicago
Climate Exchange (CCX).  Via its participation in the CCX, as OU reduces
its carbon dioxide emissions in this purchase of wind power, the
university will earn Renewable Energy Credits that have a marketable
value on the Chicago Climate Exchange.

OU also has instituted a number of other environmental initiatives.
OU's parking and transportation department uses 21 compressed natural
gas fueled vehicles, 42 flex fuel vehicles, 2 gas/electric hybrid
vehicles, and 40 electric carts used by the landscape department and
Physical Plant staff in its fleet with the goal of reducing the
consumption of fossil fuels.  Last year, the department used about
24,000 gallons of compressed natural gas in its specially equipped
vehicles, which translates to an equivalent amount of diesel fuel that,
as a result, was not consumed.

OU's on-campus fleet services has the capability of fueling vehicles
with compressed natural gas.  Ethanol and bio-diesel fueling
capabilities will be available with the opening this fall of the new
transportation operations center on campus.  OU also announced today
that it is making its cng fueling station available to the city of
Norman for city vehicles.

OU 's vehicle alternative fuels policy states that any new vehicles
purchased must be capable of using an alternative fuel, unless the
vehicles must be a specialized vehicle for which no model is available
with an alternative fuel capacity.  Additionally, the policy states that
any new small utility vehicles purchased must be electrically powered.

Today, OG&E's system features wind energy from the Sooner Wind Farm near
Woodward, which went into service in 2003 and its Centennial Wind Farm
near Ft. Supply, which was commissioned in 2007.

The new 100 MW "OU Spirit" wind farm will be located on property leased
for that purpose near the path of OG&E's planned transmission line
between northwest Oklahoma City and Woodward.  The new line will be used
to transport electricity from remote wind farms in northwestern Oklahoma
to larger population centers in the state and region.

The agreement between OG&E and OU is subject to the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission's approval of the planned wind farm and the new transmission
line under development between Woodward and Oklahoma City.

OG&E, a regulated electric utility with more than 765,000 customers in a
service area spanning 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western
Arkansas, is a subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:
OGE), which also is the parent of Enogex LLC, a midstream natural gas
pipeline business with principal operations in Oklahoma.
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