Bowdoin College
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

In 2014, Bowdoin began purchasing electricity from a 1.2MW solar photovoltaic PPA that is installed on the Bowdoin campus and provides about 8 percent of Bowdoin's annual electricity usage. The PPA is for a twenty-year term. The College did not purchase the RECs from these solar panels so can not claim any of the environmental benefits, although the College is proud to host this site, which was the largest solar project in the state of Maine at the time it was brought on line. Imported electricity from certified/verified sources come from a major solar project in Farmington, ME (that accounts for the majority of imported electricity), a solar project in Waltham, MA, and three certified hydroelectric projects.

Bowdoin has maintained RECs for the solar PV panels on the new Roux Center for the Environment, so can thus claim the full environmental benefit of the system. There are 70 panels which produce 53,000 kWh annually.

Thorne Dining Hall, the second largest user of hot water on campus, has a solar hot water system that produces 0.022145 MMBtu per year. There is another solar hot water system on the roof of the Schwartz Outdoor Leadership Center that provides domestic hot water to the kitchen, restrooms and showers of the building (these MMBtus not included).

In the spring of 2018, as part of Bowdoin's effort to become carbon neutral, the campus purchased RECs to offset all remaining escope 2 (electricity) emissions, and carbon offsets to offset all remaining scope 1 and scope 3 emissions. Bowdoin purchased a total of 9557 wind RECs from Greenlight Energy Group in Oklahoma (9,557,000 kWh). One REC represents the environmental benefits of 1-megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable electricity generated and delivered to the power grid. By purchasing these products, we alone have the right to all associated claims about the environmental benefits they embodie.