This post was originally published on Green Biz
Source: Green Biz
Corporate energy buyers bought 21.7 gigawatts of renewable energy in 2024, an annual record that boosted additions to the U.S. electric grid from such transactions to 100 gigawatts since 2014. That’s according to the Clean Energy Buyers Association’s 2024 Deal Tracker.
For context, 1 gigawatt of electricity can support 750,000 U.S. households for one year.
Just shy of three percent of all renewable generation on the U.S. grid is attributable to some sort of corporate transaction, according to CEBA. The analysis considers publicly reported deals that are at least 20 megawatts in capacity; at least 235 companies have announced deals since 2014.
Companies negotiate voluntary power purchase agreements and other sorts of contracts with utilities for clean energy so they can use them to reach renewable energy goals and claim greenhouse gas emissions reductions. This practice has become more popular over the past five years.
Key takeaways from CEBA’s latest analysis:
- The Sun rules: Solar power accounted for the vast majority of the 2024 purchases — 73 percent — despite ongoing permitting and grid interconnection delays.
- Nuclear surprises: Companies procured 1.5 gigawatts from nuclear facilities, about 6.7 percent of total (compared with 7.7 percent for wind). Nuclear energy wasn’t even mentioned in the 2023 Deal Tracker summary. Both Microsoft and Amazon have signed high-profile deals in the past 12 months.
- Batteries bloom: There was a 300 percent increase in capacity during 2024, accounting for 7.7 percent of capacity added.
- Geothermal firsts: Google’s 115-megawatt contract with Fervo in Nevada made the list. It uses a new type of tariff to insulate other customers from the cost of investing in an emerging technology.
- Interest continues to grow: 20 new companies finalized a deal in 2024, fewer than the 28 in 2023 but still notable growth.
- Half the contracted capacity is operational: 54 gigawatts have been switched on.
What’s ahead
While the Trump administration’s policies favor fossil fuels over renewable generation, clean electricity capacity continues to grow rapidly along with overall global energy demand. The world’s energy appetite surged 2.2 percent in 2024, faster than the average demand growth of 1.3 percent between 2013 and 2023.
Low-emissions generation sources covered most of the capacity increases last year, according to the International Energy Agency. Total worldwide capacity is now around 700 gigawatts. Nuclear power capacity reached its fifth highest level in the past five decades, IEA reported.
Tech companies building out massive data centers for artificial intelligence are at the center of this controversial growth. While CEBA’s report doesn’t disclose or discuss specific companies, Amazon was the single-biggest corporate buyer in 2024 — for the fifth year in a row.
The tech company has invested in 600 projects to date, including ones in states like Louisiana and Mississippi that have proportions of high-emitting fossil fuels as generation sources. In the latter state, projects backed by Amazon account for 24 percent of solar electricity on the grid.
The post Record year for corporate clean energy as contracts reach 100 gigawatts appeared first on Trellis.
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