SAM Magazine––Shawnee on Delaware, Pa., Aug. 27, 2024––Shawnee Mountain Ski Area has entered a four-year renewable energy credit (REC) purchase agreement with ENGIE Resources, a subsidiary of ENGIE North America. Under the agreement, Shawnee will claim 6,000 annual RECs, equivalent to 6,000,000 kWh of electricity delivered to the grid from renewable energy sources, namely the Priddy Wind Project in Texas. The RECs, which are Green-e® certified, are enough to offset 100 percent of Shawnee's forecasted annual energy load.

Rachel Wyckoff, marketing director at Shawnee, said the REC agreement is the latest effort among a long list of sustainable actions led by CEO and president Nick Fredericks dating back to 1985. Some of those previous efforts have included transitioning from diesel to electric compressors, enhancing snowmaking efficiency, and implementing environmentally conscious practices, such as eliminating Styrofoam in dining establishments.

“One of our most significant sustainability efforts, alongside our recent agreement with ENGIE, has been upgrading our snowmaking system to create a highly efficient operation,” said Wyckoff.

Over the four-year term, Shawnee will purchase a total of 24,000 RECs. The reported impact of the REC purchase equates to avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions of 2,501 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, which is comparable to the CO2 emissions from 2.8 million pounds of coal burned or nearly 6,000 barrels of oil consumed each year. 

Report by Troy Hawks