Advanced Energy Perspectives

Corporate renewable energy transactions have accelerated rapidly since companies first recognized and seized upon the advantages of low-cost, abundant resources like solar and wind, reaching a record 6.5 GW contracted in 2018. But the 15 GW of commercial and industrial (C&I) customer deals signed since 2014 aren’t spread evenly across the country. In fact, 16 states have no C&I renewable energy projects operational or in development, and another 10 states have fewer than 50 MW (or less than 1% of the total). While resource potential plays a role, it is far from the whole story; policies that facilitate corporate procurement to drive renewable energy development are also key. Which means that the 26 states that currently account for less than 10% of the market can play catch-up. Our recent guide from the Advanced Energy Buyers Group shows how.

Last September, the Advanced Energy Buyers Group launched with the mission to advocate for policies that would make it easier for large customers to pursue advanced energy, and to accelerate the transition to an energy system that is more secure, clean, and affordable for all customers. One year in, we have secured a few key wins—and the work is just beginning.

Photo by Alan Stark, used under a Creative Commons license. 

With the Trump Administration clear on its intentions to repeal and replace the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 21 finally released its "Affordable Clean Energy" proposal. Given the name, one might expect the so-called ACE rule to lean on current market trends toward low- and non-emitting advanced energy technologies, such as natural gas, solar, wind, and energy efficiency, on the basis of cost. That’s what the CPP attempted to do, doubling down on these trends and allowing states to design compliance plans using market-based trading to find the lowest-cost paths to compliance. ACE, in contrast, takes a hard turn away from lower-cost advanced energy options and market-based trading in favor of old-fashioned command-and-control regulation that would only allow costly investments at existing coal-fired power plants—which is bad news for consumers and the advanced energy industry alike.  

Just over a month ago, AEE launched a new group of advanced energy users, called the Advanced Energy Buyers Group, led by member companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Walmart, and others. The concept is simple: Just as AEE is the business voice of advanced energy, the Advanced Energy Buyers Group serves as the policy voice of energy users. In practice, that means the Buyers Group will weigh in on a range of energy policy issues that matter to companies on the customer side of the meter, specifically on behalf of companies seeking ways to increase their use of advanced energy.

In the month since its launch, the Buyers Group has kept busy on two high profile issues, both with big implications for large consumers: the Section 201 Solar Trade Case now before the U.S. International Trade Commission and the “Grid Pricing Rule” proposed by the Department of Energy late last month and under consideration by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Let’s dig in.

This is Part Two of a two-part blog series on design of utility renewable energy tariffs. Part One (last week) addressed the needs of participating corporate customers, and Part Two considers the needs of nonparticipating customers.

Last week, we dug into the topic of renewable energy tariffs from the lens of prospective participants, listing out some of the considerations that make the difference between success and failure when it comes to customer uptake. In this post, we turn the tables and look at the same programs from a different perspective—that of nonparticipating customers. This post draws from the lessons offered by AEE Institute’s recent paper, Making Corporate Renewable Energy Purchasing Work for All Utility Customers, which looked at case studies of eight programs across seven states.