Change is afoot in how the biggest energy consumers get their energy. Green power purchasing – primarily through renewable energy certificates (RECs) – has grown by over 300% since 2006, and is forecast by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to grow anywhere from 50-400% over the next three years.
I’ve spent the past couple of days perusing data from the EPA on their Green Power Partnership program (GPP) to see what’s going on in the clean energy market. Why this data? For three reasons:
- Green Power Partnership participants constitute approximately 70% of the voluntary renewable power market.
- It’s the most granular data on buyers and suppliers that is publicly available.
- Historical data is available in a consistent format for over 5 years.
An increasing number of Fortune 500 companies are participating in the GPP – 65 in 2012, an increase of 33% since 2008. It may not come as a surprise that these companies are leading the charge on green energy purchasing, comprising 14.9 million MWh (73% of GPP purchasing) in 2012.
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