Providence continues to drive toward our 2030 carbon negative goal through the purchase of renewable energy resources. Geoff Glass, sr. technical program manager for energy, joined our June 3 IS & RESO Open Forum to share some of this progress to power our ministries with renewable energy. Here’s a bit more information.
A new program offered by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) called Green Direct provides energy from a new solar farm in Goldendale, Washington. This solar farm is the largest in Washington State. Several ministries in Washington now use renewable energy sources to power their facilities (Swedish Issaquah, St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, our Renton administrative campus, and Providence Marionwood (also in Issaquah). This 10-year agreement with Puget Sound Energy began in March 2021.
On a medium scale, Providence Centralia Hospital in Washington installed 360 solar panels in 2020, which reduces carbon emissions by 70,000 pounds per year. The use of solar power on-site also helps us realize a significant cost savings in electricity costs per year.
The purchase of renewable energy not only helps us make progress toward our carbon negative goal, but also fulfills the Clean Buildings Act signed into law in 2019 in Washington State. The purpose of this law is to reduce carbon emissions from the building sector in Washington State.
Additionally, collaboration with Microsoft enables our ability to use 100% renewable energy to power data center on the Cloud. Through the purchase of renewable energy, not only can Providence gain progress towards our 2030 goal, but also reduce overall operational costs.