Leading technology and energy firms back global renewables transparency drive

More than 100 major companies, governments, and NGOs have thrown their weight behind a "world-first" programme launched today that aims to improve the transparency surrounding renewable energy for consumers worldwide.

The goal is to accelerate the shift to 24/7 clean electricity by giving customers transparency and confidence that the power they are buying is "truly green", according to EnergyTag, the independent, industry-led initiative which is spearheading the programme. The initiative also aims to provide price signals that help incentivise the development of smart grid technologies and ensure clean electricity is available to consumers around the clock, the group said.

Google, Microsoft, PwC, Vattenfall, Statkraft, and Engie are among the 100 global organisations having already signed up to participate in the new global initiative.

While at present many organisations and individuals already purchase energy classified as renewable through certification schemes, the consumption of this electricity is only matched to production on an annual basis, and there is currently no standardised system for verifying clean power supply on an hourly basis.

Clean energy certificates - known as Guarantees of Origin (GOs) in Europe, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in the US, and Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) in the UK - are issued for each unit (MWh) of electricity produced, which companies then purchase to meet their annual energy demand.

But EnergyTag argues that the current system means that as more renewable power capacity is built worldwide, the availability of clean energy becomes increasingly volatile, potentially leading to overproduction at certain times of the day or year and scarcity at other times. That in turn can result in significant daily fluctuations in both power prices and the carbon intensity of the wider electricity system.

Dr Toby Ferenczi, founder of EnergyTag, compared the issue to "trying to drink just the apple juice from a smoothie", which is "impossible when it's all blended together".

"It's the same problem with electricity," he explained. "We need a transparent way of verifying the source of the power we consume each hour to accelerate deployment of the technologies needed to fight climate change."

As such, EnergyTag is planning six new projects, which it said were designed to demonstrate how hourly certificates can reward those able to provide renewable power at times of short supply, including for grid storage and flexibility providers.

Taking place across the US, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Australia, the six projects unveiled today involve major industry leaders such as Google, Microsoft, Vattenfall, Centrica, Stakraft, Energinet, and Eneco, with the first results expected by the end of 2021.

"These demonstration projects, with some of the world's largest energy consumers and utilities, showcase a new mechanism to accelerate the shift to 24/7 clean energy," said Ferenczi. "We're calling on more of the world's largest energy users, energy companies and investors to participate and help achieve round-the-clock clean energy for everyone."

Companies backing the initiative argue developing a market for hourly renewable energy certificates can improve public perceptions of renewable energy claims, incentivise the roll out of energy storage capacity, and enable improvements in corporate carbon accounting. Advocates of energy storage and flexible grid services maintain they can also help slash the overall cost of energy decarbonisation, while enhancing grid security, by minimising the need to build excess renewables capacity to cope with periods of high demand or low output.

Max Andrews, head of Nordic environmental products at energy giant Statkraft, said the firm's customers increasingly wanted to understand in greater detail where their energy comes from and when it is genuinely renewable. "By making hourly energy certificates available, EnergyTag provides an important and innovative tool to enable end-users to verify the source of their energy throughout the day," he explained.