We have built our alternative energy portfolio on a consistent and growing commitment. Each year, our accumulating investment generates an increasing level of revenue. As we have gained experience in alternative energy, our annual investment has grown, reaching an annual rate of $100 million or more over the past four years.

WGL now has alternative energy projects across the United States, representing a total investment of almost $700 million.

We’ve also become more sophisticated, growing toward a distributed generation model that involves large multiple-solution projects that employ natural gas, solar, remotely generated wind and other solutions. One of those massive projects is our partnership with the University of Maryland (UMD), where we’re providing for the university’s more diverse energy needs, including electricity and alternative energy sources.

Located in College Park, Maryland, UMD first embraced solar energy as an alternative source of power when it partnered with WGL in 2011 to install solar panels on its Severn Building. Since then, the university has developed an ambitious plan to ensure that by 2020, 100 percent of its purchased power comes from renewable sources.

UMD is well on its way toward that goal, most recently engaging with WGL in a purchased power agreement to fund the installation of solar canopies on top of three UMD parking garages, adding nearly 2.2 megawatts of generating capacity, meeting 80 percent of the university’s goal of 2.7 megawatts of solar power for university facilities by 2018.

When added to the power generated from solar installations on its Severn Building and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, the new project brings UMD’s total capacity to more than 3,000 megawatt hours generated by solar power, the equivalent emissions reduction of not burning nearly 5,200 barrels of oil – that’s more than 250,000 gallons of gasoline.