Announcements

BART commits to a future powered by wind and solar

December 2017 – On December 7, 2017 BART took bold action to improve the climate footprint of the Bay Area’s transportation sector. Following BART’s adoption of an aggressive and industry-leading Wholesale Electricity Portfolio Policy (PDF) in April 2017, the BART Board of Directors today approved two 20-year renewable energy power purchase agreements. One of the agreements calls for NextEra Energy Resources to build a new 61.7 MW (megawatt) wind energy project and the other calls for Recurrent Energy to build a new 45 MW solar energy project. Both projects will be located in Kern County and are expected to be online by January 1, 2021.

BART currently gets 4% of its electricity supply from renewable sources, but that will increase dramatically with these two new agreements. Renewable energy will account for about 90% of the District’s electricity portfolio starting in 2021, when the two new renewable projects begin delivery under the agreements. As BART’s energy needs increase, the new renewable energy agreements will provide about 75% of BART’s electricity needs beginning in 2025 and continuing through 2040. The two agreements build on BART's Wholesale Electricity Portfolio Policy, which calls on BART to get at least 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. The new agreements mean BART is well ahead of that goal. Ultimately, BART plans to get 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045.