New record in renewable energy purchase by corporate globally

Corporate purchased a record 44 percent more renewable energy through power purchase agreements last year compared to 2018 and more than triple the activity seen in 2017, according to a recent research by BloombergNEF (BNEF).

It added that the majority of this uptrend was driven by activity in the United States and corporate sustainability commitments around the world.
The research in its titled ‘1H 2020 Corporate Energy Market Outlook’ said that 19.5 GW of clean energy contracts were signed by more than 100 corporations in 23 different countries in 2019, which was up from 13.6 GW in 2018. According to the report, the 2019 total was equivalent to more than 10 per cent of all the renewable energy capacity added globally last year – and the projects involved are likely to cost between $20 billion and $30 billion to develop and build.

“Corporations have purchased over 50 GW of clean energy since 2008. That is bigger than the power generation fleets of markets like Vietnam and Poland. These buyers are reshaping power markets and the business models of energy companies around the world,” said Jonas Rooze, lead sustainability analyst, BNEF.

The report added that technology firms dominated clean energy procurements. Leading the pack was Google, which signed contracts to purchase over 2.7 GW of clean energy globally in 2019, more than any other corporation.

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