September 13, 2012
Minnesota

Vikings score wind energy credits for Metrodome

Leslie Brooks Suzukamo | Pioneer Press | www.twincities.com 12 September 2012

Purple Pride has gone green.

The Minnesota Vikings will use wind energy credits from Juhl Wind Inc., a small wind developer in southwestern Minnesota, to offset the carbon footprint of the Metrodome this season, the energy company said Tuesday, Sept. 12.

This isn’t the first time the pro football team has used renewable energy credits. The team purchased renewable energy from Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy’s Windsource program from 2009-10.

But it’s a first for Woodstock-based Juhl Wind, which is trading its credits as part of a sponsorship deal with the Vikings.

“It’s part of our strategy to get our name out there,” said Corey Juhl, vice president of Juhl Wind.

Juhl Wind will provide 520,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits over the eight regular season home games, which is equal to conventionally produced coal-fired electricity that results in 507,570 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, Juhl Wind estimated.

The credits offset the electricity used throughout the Metrodome, covering everything from the concession stands to the scoreboards and making the Vikings one of the only National Football League teams to play in a 100 percent green-powered facility during the entire 2012-2013 season, Corey Juhl said.

To be clear: The Vikings are not using wind power to light up the Dome.

Juhl Wind is using the credits it gets from wind generation as a form of currency, in effect buying, or bartering for, the exposure it gets at Vikings games like
any another sponsor.

In Minnesota, about 13 percent of the power on the grid – which is distributed to homes, businesses and stadiums – was generated from wind turbines in 2011.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/09/13/vikings-score-wind-energy-credits-for-metrodome/