From pv magazine 04/25
Many US electricity buyers have used PPAs to run on clean power, filling gaps by buying renewable energy certificates generated by clean power operators. Such corporate and institutional sustainability goals drove 42% of the solar and wind power capacity installed in the United States between 2014 and 2023.
Critics of companies such as Amazon, which covers its electricity needs with clean energy PPAs, say the fact the PPAs concern cheap daytime solar power means fossil fuel generation still takes place to fulfil the retail giant’s evening energy needs.
Google, Microsoft, and data center operator Iron Mountain have promised round-the-clock carbon-free energy by 2030, requiring non-fossil fueled energy to cover consumption every hour of the day. “Hourly matching” is designed to move the argument on from how to drive renewables onto the grid, to how to target them…
