Gulf Oil’s retail energy services, Gulf Electricity, which launched in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts in 2012, are now available to New Hampshire residential and commercial customers. Customers who switch to Gulf Electricity will continue to receive their bills from their current utility, which will also continue to handle power delivery and repair services. Gulf Oil, best known as a supplier of motor fuels, launched Gulf Electricity in January 2012.
PowerOptions of Boston, a power-buying consortium for nonprofit and public organizations, has helped four schools to sign 20-year power purchase agreements with SunEdison, which will build solar arrays for the schools, according to the Boston Globe. The Massachusetts schools – Endicott College in Beverly, Bristol Community College in Fall River, Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury – will buy the solar electricity from SunEdison, which will own and maintain the installations. Utility rates average 14.38 cents per kWh in Massachusetts, according to the US Energy Department, and the schools’ power purchase agreements provide for prices at or lower than the utility market rates, says the newspaper. In total, the four new solar arrays will have 6 MW capacity. When the power purchase agreements expire, the schools can either renew their contracts, buy the systems, or remove the equipment.
This year, Massachusetts reached its goal of installing 250 MW of solar – four years early – and has set a new goal of 1,600 MW by 2020.