Commercial, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 28, 2020

U.S. companies had record year for clean energy contracts, BNEF finds

Corporations in the United States purchased a total of 19.5 GW of clean energy contracts in 2019, up more than 40% than last year’s record and setting a new record, 80% of which were under the VPPA model.

BloombergNEF published its 1H 2020 Corporate Energy Market Outlook Jan. 28, which included data showing that more than 100 companies signed these PPAs in 23 different countries. In 2018, the total was 13.6 GW of clean energy.

Leaders in the report include Google, who signed more than 2.7 GW of contracts; Facebook, with 1.1 GW; Amazon, with 0.9 GW; and Microsoft, with 0.8 GW in 2019.

Additionally, a growing number of oil and gas companies signed clean energy contracts in 2019, including Occidental Petroleum, Chevron and Energy Transfer Partners, joining the ranks of ExxonMobil, who signed two PPAs totally 575 MW at the end of 2018.

“The clean energy portfolios of some of the largest corporate buyers rival those of the world’s biggest utilities, Kyle Harrison, a sustainability analyst at BNEF and the lead author of the report, said in a statement. “These companies are facing mounting pressure from investors to decarbonize – clean energy contracts serve as a way to diversify energy spend and reduce susceptibility to the tangible risks associated with climate change.”

The report also found that nearly 400 companies around the world set sustainability commitments in 2019, and 63 set ‘RE100’ targets, pledging to offset 100% of electricity with clean energy. BNEF estimates that the 221 current RE100 members will need to purchase an additional 210TWh of clean electricity in 2030 to meet their targets.

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