IBJ outlined Indiana business' ask for more renewable energy options, citing Caryl Auslander on the demand for advanced energy. Read snippets below and the full story here.

A trade group that promotes clean energy, the cities of Indianapolis andBloomington, and several of the state’s largest employers on Thursday issued a formal request to the state’s two largest utilities, asking them to offer more options to large energy customers to receive their electricity from renewable energy.

The Indiana Advanced Energy Economy, part of the national trade group AAE, made the request to utilities Duke Energy Indiana and AESIndiana (formerly Indianapolis Power & Light) in a public letter co-signed by Coca-Cola, Walmart, Salesforce, Cummins Inc., Rivian and Roche. The letter also was sent to members of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

The letter asks the utilities to begin designing and participating in so-called “green tariff,” program that would allow the companies to purchase electricity from cleaner power sources.

“As major employers and large electricity consumers in Indiana, we write in support of our utilities offering options by which we can source our electricity from renewable resources,” the letter said. “Participating in such an offering, often referred to as a ‘green tariff,’ would allow us to increase our use of renewable energy, and to express our support forincreased and diversified renewable energy supplies in Indiana.”

The trade group said green tariff programs are in use in a at least 16 other states, but not Indiana.

“There is strong customer demand for clean energy in Indiana,” said Caryl Auslander, executive director of Indiana AEE, in written comments. “Many corporations, cities, and institutions in Indiana have clean energy goals, and they are dependent on Indiana’s utilities, like Duke and AES, to get their energy. Many large energy use customers want to choose renewable energy and we’re asking Duke and AES to give them more options.”

Read the full story here.