Google, Intuit, Microsoft, Patagonia, Rivian and Rei are part of a growing number of companies for which the capacity of a project for renewable electricity is not the most important decision -making metric for the signing of a contract.
All six companies negotiate business to bring affordable energy to places where renewable electricity is scarce, and other factors, including high level of poverty, have made it difficult for consumers to invest in energy efficiency measures such as the weatherization of homes or updated HLK systems.
For example, on February 25, Microsoft gave a multi -year deal to bring 200 megawatt solar power in 20 municipalities with a first focus on Louisiana and Arkansas over the next four years. This is the second transaction of the tech giant with Clearloop, a Nashville, Tennessee, and the company that extends solar energy at under -sector locations in which projects have a higher influence on the decarbonization of the network and also have positive economic effects.
Clearloop uses a project financing approach with which the company can acquire the environmental attribution agencies of projects with supply companies in regions in which the penetration of renewable energies are low, said Laura Zapata, co -founder and CEO from Clearloop.
“If the government does not want to make this type of investment, it may be the private sector,” she said, describing the company's history of origin. One of the co-founders and fishing investors of Clearloop is the former governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen, who also co-founded Silicon Ranch, the solar developer, who acquired Clearloop in October 2021.
Central topic: Community resilience
Clearloop prioritizes smaller projects – usually about 5 megawatts or enough to supply 1,000 houses with electricity. A significant sales argument in rural communities is the ability of distributed solar systems to keep communities online during wider network failures, said Zapata. This helps to approve the projects and usually produce electricity in less than a year. “Providing, providing, providing the game is the name of the game at the moment,” she said.
Another developer who wins business with top-class companies is Sol Systems, an independent electricity generator in Washington, DC, who manages 7 Gigawatts Clean Energy projects in 38 countries. It was publicly provided with Google, Microsoft, Patagonia and Rivian to name just a few.
Both Clearloop and Sol prioritize low -income communities with high radiation. Investments often have employment opportunities, investments in local schools and other activities that are considered important by the residents.
“You can continue to use these projects to implement your goals, but it's not just about extracting the advantages,” said Adaora Ifebigh, Senior Director of Community at Sol Systems. “If you want to be there and show that you will be there, you have to think about things differently.”
Consider Sols relationship with Google, which promised another $ 1.6 million in mid-March (doubled an earlier investment). The money finances in rural electrical cooperatives in North Carolina and South Carolina for energy efficiency upgrades and other improvements that reduce energy requirements and costs.
Verifiable effects on low -income consumers
“[The relationship] Reduces the energy stress for our members – especially in extreme weather months – without the bureaucracy that is often equipped with other sources of financing, “said Kevin Myers, Manager for Marketing for Santee Electric Cooperative in Kingstree.” It's not about guidelines. It's about people. “
Santee is one of several organizations that receive financial resources from the Google deal. The cooperative, which will receive $ 200,000 due to the new investment, has financed upgrades in 76 houses in the past two years, including weather improvements and installations of heat pumps.
The owners of these houses often do not qualify for existing programs because they do not have an appropriate credit story or the country in which their house is located are not created. What is a deal breaker in some locations, said Myers. “These funds can be applied directly to the [customers] Who needs that the most, ”he said.
Consider the climate, nature conservation and community
The electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian checks the possibilities for the development of the municipality as part of all investments for renewable energies. Other factors: How a project can reduce emissions in an otherwise dirty network and whether the project causes the habitat to destroy. (Take a look at the checklist.)
For example, Rivian has teamed up with Patagonia and Sol to support a 50-megawatt project in Stokes County, North Carolina. The financing supported a local robotics program for middle school students.
The Rivian strategy for renewable energies aims to compensate for the effects of its manufacture and to give the network enough clean energy capacity to support 7 billion miles of carbon-free driving.
“We are looking for projects that lead to the greatest potential to negate fossil fuels,” said Andrew Peterman, director of Advanced Energy Solutions at Rivian. “We really think about how we drive a gate transformation that deals with decarbonization.”
For example, Rivian supported Clearloop's work in Tennessee because the sun was less than 1 percent of the electricity. Rivian works with Clearloop to add enough solar energy to operate charging stations throughout the state, said Peterman. “There are sustainability results, but it's really about enabling the system,” he said.
Let the community lead
The software company Intuit also works with Clearloop. Together with Rei, it supported a 2.8 megawatt solar installation in White Pine, Tennessee, which supplies at least 400 local households with electricity and also delivers electricity for rice nearby sales center with zero-carbon stream.
“We have never set a limit for such projects, but only the scleean energy component is noticeable on the scope, but also whether it creates co-benefits,” said Debbie Litz, head of global sustainability in intuit. “We want to use the resources that we have to have positively impact.”
Intuitation examines the economic effects in the context of its project selection criteria – in accordance with his company mission declaration on “power around the world”. It prioritizes regions in which electricity constraints reduce the supply costs, exposed to new technologies and possibly create training opportunities.
In contrast to some other companies that support small solar projects in the community, intuit does not include the certificates for renewable energies, which they create as its emission reduction destinations. Rather, it donates them to the community. “This is an important job, even if it does not serve our direct interests,” said Litz.