Yes, several communities in the United States obtain enough renewable electricity to match all the power consumed by their municipal utility customers. Three of the clearest examples are Burlington in Vermont, Aspen in Colorado and Greensburg in Kansas.
The wording matters. These cities are generally described as running on 100 percent renewable electricity, not completely on renewable energy across every activity. Cars may still burn gasoline, buildings may use natural gas, and emergency generators may rely on diesel.
Electricity also moves through interconnected grids, so a renewable city does not necessarily receive wind, solar or hydropower electrons every second. The claim usually means its utility owns or purchases renewable generation and associated environmental attributes equal to its customers’ annual electricity use.
1. Burlington, Vermont
Burlington became the first US city widely recognized for sourcing 100 percent of its electricity from renewable generation in 2014.
The city achieved the milestone after Burlington Electric Department purchased the Winooski One hydroelectric facility. Its electricity portfolio combines hydropower, wind, solar and generation from sustainably sourced biomass.
According to Burlington Electric Department’s current energy portfolio, its renewable resources supplied more electricity than the utility’s total retail sales and load during 2024. That allows the utility to continue describing its annual electricity portfolio as 100 percent renewable.
Burlington’s experience is notable because it did not depend on one enormous solar or wind farm. The city assembled a diversified portfolio containing several renewable sources.
Hydropower provides electricity that is generally more controllable than wind or solar. Wind generation contributes additional low-carbon supply, while local solar projects add power during daylight hours.
The city also receives electricity from the McNeil Generating Station, which primarily burns wood chips. Biomass is officially classified as renewable in Vermont, although its environmental impact is more debated than that of wind and solar because burning wood releases carbon dioxide and other air pollutants.
Burlington’s electricity achievement does not mean the entire city has eliminated fossil fuels. Its broader objective is to become a net-zero-energy city by reducing fossil-fuel use in buildings and transportation. Burlington Electric describes that effort as moving beyond its renewable-electricity portfolio by encouraging heat pumps, electric vehicles and building efficiency.
This distinction shows why supplying renewable electricity can be only the first stage of a city’s energy transition.
2. Aspen, Colorado
Aspen’s municipal electric system has operated with a 100 percent renewable electricity portfolio since 2015.
The city’s current mix is approximately 53 percent wind power, 46 percent hydroelectricity and 1 percent landfill gas, according to the City of Aspen’s renewable-energy overview.
Hydropower has played a particularly important role. Aspen receives federally supplied hydroelectricity and purchases output from a generating facility at Colorado’s Ridgway Reservoir.
The city also contracts for wind power through its wholesale electricity arrangements. Landfill gas contributes a much smaller share by capturing methane created as waste decomposes and using it to generate electricity.
Aspen’s achievement applies specifically to customers served by Aspen Electric, the municipally owned utility. The system supplies roughly 3,000 residential, commercial, hotel and condominium connections within the city limits.
This limitation is important because not every property in the wider Aspen area is necessarily supplied through the same municipal portfolio. Claims about renewable cities often apply to a defined utility service territory rather than an entire metropolitan region.
Aspen also demonstrates how a city can use contractual electricity purchases instead of building every generating facility inside its boundaries. The city does not contain enough land for giant wind farms, but it can support renewable development elsewhere and purchase the resulting power.
That approach allows dense or geographically constrained communities to reach renewable-electricity targets without generating all their electricity locally.
3. Greensburg, Kansas
Greensburg, Kansas, rebuilt itself around sustainability after a powerful tornado destroyed most of the town in May 2007.
As part of its recovery, the community adopted stronger building standards, energy-efficiency measures and renewable-power goals. The city now states that it is “100% renewable, 100% of the time,” with its electricity generated from wind energy. The claim appears on Greensburg’s official sustainable-rebuilding page.
The town’s electricity is associated with a nearby wind farm capable of producing more energy annually than Greensburg consumes.
Electricity from the turbines enters the larger regional grid rather than travelling through a dedicated wire directly to every local home. Greensburg’s renewable status therefore depends on annual generation and electricity accounting, similar to many corporate and municipal clean-power commitments.
The town’s small population made the total electricity requirement easier to match than it would be for a major city. However, Greensburg’s rebuilding remains significant because the community incorporated renewable electricity into a much broader recovery strategy.
Public buildings were reconstructed with energy efficiency in mind, and several projects used high-performance designs intended to reduce heating, cooling and lighting demand.
Reducing consumption matters because a city that uses less electricity needs fewer wind turbines, solar panels or hydroelectric contracts to reach a 100 percent target.
Greensburg therefore illustrates both sides of the transition: generating cleaner electricity and lowering the amount required.
What Does “100 Percent Renewable” Actually Mean?
The phrase can create the impression that every outlet in the city is connected directly to a nearby wind turbine or solar panel. Electric grids do not normally work that way.
Renewable and fossil-fuel generators send electricity into a shared network. Once power enters that network, it is generally impossible to trace individual electrons from a specific plant to a particular building.
Utilities instead use contracts, ownership arrangements and renewable energy certificates to account for clean generation.
A renewable energy certificate represents the environmental attributes associated with one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity. To make a valid annual 100 percent renewable claim, a utility normally needs to retain or retire enough certificates to match the electricity consumed by its customers.
This detail explains why Georgetown, Texas, is no longer included among the clearest current examples.
Georgetown was once promoted internationally as a 100 percent renewable city because it contracted for large amounts of wind and solar electricity. The city later began selling the renewable energy certificates associated with those contracts to reduce costs.
An official Georgetown financial document states that because the city sells those certificates, it no longer uses the 100 percent renewable designation.
The physical electricity may still come from major wind and solar contracts, but selling the certificates transfers the legal environmental claim to another buyer.
Renewable Electricity Is Not the Same as a Fossil-Free City
Burlington, Aspen and Greensburg have made major progress, but none should automatically be described as operating completely without fossil fuels.
Residents may drive gasoline vehicles. Restaurants and homes may use natural gas for cooking or heating. Construction machinery, aircraft and delivery trucks may still consume petroleum.
Even renewable electricity systems may rely on the wider grid during specific moments. A city can purchase enough renewable generation over a year while temporarily receiving electricity produced by natural-gas or coal plants when renewable output is low.
A fully fossil-free city would need to address electricity, heating, transport, industry and backup energy together.
Burlington is attempting this broader transition through electrification. Other cities are establishing clean-building standards, expanding public transport and encouraging electric vehicles.
Those changes are more difficult than changing an electricity contract because they require replacing equipment across thousands of privately owned homes, businesses and vehicles.
Why Smaller Cities Reached the Goal First
All three examples are relatively small.
Municipally owned utilities give local governments more direct control over electricity contracts and generation investments. A city that owns its utility can decide which power plants to support without depending entirely on a large investor-owned provider.
Smaller demand also makes the target more manageable. A single wind farm or hydroelectric contract may be enough to match the annual consumption of a small community.
Large cities face a much bigger challenge. They require enormous quantities of electricity, often serve millions of people and may be locked into long-term utility arrangements controlled at the regional or state level.
This does not mean major cities cannot reach 100 percent renewable electricity. It means the transition requires larger projects, stronger transmission networks and more complicated agreements.
Three Cities Prove It Is Possible
Burlington, Aspen and Greensburg reached renewable electricity through very different routes.
Burlington built a mixed portfolio of hydropower, wind, solar and biomass. Aspen combined wind, hydropower and landfill gas through its municipal utility. Greensburg used wind generation as part of its reconstruction after a devastating tornado.
None has solved every part of the energy transition, and “100 percent renewable” needs to be understood as an electricity-accounting claim rather than proof that fossil fuels have disappeared from daily life.
Still, these cities demonstrate that a US community can match its annual electricity consumption with renewable generation using technologies already available today.
The next challenge is extending that progress beyond electricity to vehicles, heating and the rest of the urban energy system.
