By Rocky Mountain Institute | News Release — Today, Rocky Mountain Institute announced the launch of the Business Renewables Center (BRC), a collaborative platform aimed at accelerating corporate renewable energy procurement.
The BRC’s goal is to add another 60 GW of wind and solar by 2025, which will nearly double installed U.S. capacity.
Nearly two-thirds of Fortune 100 and nearly half of Fortune 500 companies have commitments to shift to renewables. However, most have not taken action due to the high transaction cost and complexity of large-scale renewables transactions. The BRC will remove the main obstacles preventing corporations from building renewables into their energy profiles.
“Corporations can be a powerful lever for expanding renewable energy in the United States and beyond. They can lock in long-term affordable prices for clean energy that supports the bottom line, reduce their carbon footprint, and fulfill their corporate sustainability commitments,” said RMI Managing Director Hervé Touati.
The BRC launched with more than 25 founding members, including major corporations, renewables project developers and transaction service providers.
Totaling more than USD 430 billion in revenue and over 24 TWh in electricity consumption per year, the BRC founding corporate buyers include Becton, Dickinson, and Co., Bloomberg, eBay, GM, HP, Kaiser Permanente, Nestle Waters North America, Owens Corning, Salesforce.com, Sprint and VF Corporation.
“The collaborative effort of the BRC will make it easier for corporations to enter the renewables market. Instead of having hundreds of corporations reinvent the wheel, each member can get immediate access to the cumulative knowledge and wisdom of the industry. Each problem only needs to get solved once,” said Rob Threlkeld, manager of renewable energy at GM.
The BRC founding project developers include Apex Clean Energy, E.ON-Climate and Renewables North America, FirstSolar, Invenergy, NextEra Energy Resources, NRG Energy, OneEnergy Renewables, OwnEnergy and SunEdison.
“The BRC brings us closer to corporate buyers and helps us better understand their needs. It allows us to focus our time on where we, as developers add the most value—building new projects that supply renewable energy,” said John DiDonato, vice president of wind development at NextEra Energy Resources.
The BRC founding transaction service providers include Altenex, Climate Friendly, Customer First Renewables, Origin Climate, Renewable Choice Energy, Renewable Power Direct and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
“The next decade will be a watershed for U.S. renewables. The establishment of the BRC is a testament to explosive industry growth and to the increasing appetite of corporations for easily adoptable, clean power solutions. Through collaborative efforts, the BRC is an exciting resource for everyone in the industry and for our clients,” said Quayle Hodek, CEO of Renewable Choice Energy.
The RMI-convened BRC is part of a larger corporate renewable energy effort—the Corporate Renewables Partnership—that includes WWF, WRI and BSR.
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