RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS FOR LARGE UTILITY CUSTOMERS

The report explores how large utility customers, including cities and corporations, can achieve high renewable energy goals through various procurement models. It details options such as green tariffs, sleeved PPAs, and community solar, while addressing the critical role of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in accounting and disclosure. The document emphasizes the need for collaboration between utilities, customers, and regulators to ensure that the transition to carbon-free energy is cost-effective, avoids cross-subsidization of non-participants, and maintains grid reliability.

• Large energy buyers, particularly cities and corporations, are driving a rapid increase in voluntary renewable energy procurement. As of February 2019, 105 cities had committed to 100 percent renewable energy, an increase from 57 cities prior to 2019.
• Utility green tariffs are a growing mechanism for large customers to source up to 100 percent of their electricity from renewable projects. These can be structured as sleeved PPAs, subscriber programs, or market-based rate programs, with nearly 20 percent of all corporate renewable energy deals in 2018 executed through green tariffs.
• Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are the primary accounting mechanism used to trace renewable energy sales and substantiate environmental claims. However, confusion exists regarding REC attribution in community solar, where subscribers often do not receive the RECs, limiting their ability to claim renewable energy usage.
• Xcel Energy is implementing a 'Certified Renewable Percentage' approach to allow customers to claim credit for the renewable energy already present in the overall grid mix, which helps align individual customer goals with systemwide decarbonization.
• While onshore wind and solar PV are among the least expensive new large-scale generation options in the U.S., achieving 100 percent renewable grids may face diminishing returns in cost-effectiveness between 60 percent and 80 percent penetration, potentially requiring overbuilding capacity by three to eight times.
• Large customers can mitigate grid impacts of variable renewable energy by incorporating storage, flexing demand to match generation profiles, and utilizing managed charging for electric vehicle fleets.
• Walmart utilizes three primary channels for renewable energy: contracting for off-site resources (including Virtual PPAs), contracting for on-site resources, and utility partnerships, such as the Commercial & Industrial Renewable Energy Development Initiative with Georgia Power.

APA

Bird, L., Barua, P., Ratz, H. B., Bonugli, C., & Chriss, S. (2019). RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS FOR LARGE UTILITY CUSTOMERS. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-04/renewebale-energy-options-large-customers.pdf?VersionId=22px91p1fPqMdBRFLBZy_Bk0b6o470dC

Chicago

Bird, Lori, Priya Barua, Heidi Bishop Ratz, Celina Bonugli, and Steve Chriss. RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS FOR LARGE UTILITY CUSTOMERS. World Resources Institute, 2019. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-04/renewebale-energy-options-large-customers.pdf?VersionId=22px91p1fPqMdBRFLBZy_Bk0b6o470dC.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bird |first1=Lori |last2=Barua |first2=Priya |last3=Ratz |first3=Heidi Bishop |last4=Bonugli |first4=Celina |last5=Chriss |first5=Steve |title=RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS FOR LARGE UTILITY CUSTOMERS |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=June 2019 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-04/renewebale-energy-options-large-customers.pdf?VersionId=22px91p1fPqMdBRFLBZy_Bk0b6o470dC |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bird2019renewable, author = {Bird, Lori and Barua, Priya and Ratz, Heidi Bishop and Bonugli, Celina and Chriss, Steve}, title = {{RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS FOR LARGE UTILITY CUSTOMERS}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-04/renewebale-energy-options-large-customers.pdf?VersionId=22px91p1fPqMdBRFLBZy_Bk0b6o470dC}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }