A new report from NREL documents green power marketing activities and trends in the United States. The first section of the report provides an overview of green power markets, including product pricing, sales, and consumer response. Subsequent sections provide brief descriptions of utility green pricing programs, companies that actively market green power in competitive markets and those that market renewable energy certificates (RECs) nationally or regionally, and a select number of large, nonresidential green power purchasers. Some of the key findings of the report include:

• More than 500,000 electricity customers nationally are purchasing green power products through regulated utility companies, from green power marketers in a competitive market setting, or in the form of RECs.
• Retail sales of renewable energy in voluntary purchase markets experienced strong growth in 2004, increasing more than 60% to 6.2 billion kWh annually. REC purchases by nonresidential customers fueled much of this growth, although residential sales also continue to grow and customers have increased the size of their purchases. Thus, the nonresidential market has emerged in recent years as the primary of driver of market growth.
• Since 2000, the amount of renewable energy capacity serving green power markets has increased more than tenfold. At the end of 2004, more than 2,200 MW of new renewable energy generation capacity was being used to supply green power markets, with another 450 MW planned.

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