Utility Dive
By Ben Gerber
The following is a contributed article by Ben Gerber, president and CEO of M-RETS.
Between government regulations and rising consumer demand, corporations are increasingly relying on renewable energy markets to meet requirements and goals around decarbonization. Those markets grew significantly in 2020, despite COVID-19. Add to that a new presidential administration that supports moving to a zero-emissions power sector by 2035, and we can anticipate that growth to accelerate.
This has created a need for more data to better track and quantify progress toward decarbonization. Buying renewable energy credits is an important first step – understanding exactly where that energy came from and how it matches up to a corporation’s energy use has become crucial to tracking carbon emissions.
In California, State Senator Josh Becker just recently introduced legislation calling for this exact level of data collection. SB67, also known as the California 24/7 Clean Energy Standard, calls for enhanced hourly tracking of clean energy resources to help the state meet its goal of using 100% clean energy.
Most renewable energy purchasers still rely on the existing grid – which includes a mix of renewable and carbon-emitting sources – and they will for the foreseeable future. This makes hourly generation information important for two reasons. First, it can help energy consumers understand how their purchasing decisions may influence grid emissions, like how placing a generator in one location might lead to greater grid decarbonization benefits over another location. Second, it allows customers to temporally match the production of renewable energy with their consumption.