According to the most recent BloombergNEF data, US online retailer Amazon led the corporate renewables parade again last year, accounting for more than 20% of a record 31.1GW of clean-power purchase agreements signed by private corporations across the globe (BNEF).
According to BNEF’s 1H 2022 Corporate Energy Market Outlook, Amazon was the largest single buyer of clean energy globally by a wide margin, announcing 44 offsite power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling 6.2GW in 2021, bringing its total clean energy PPA capacity to 13.9GW and making its clean energy portfolio the 12th largest in the world among all types of companies, just ahead of French utility EDF.
Big Tech titans Microsoft and Meta placed second and third among renewables-buying corporates, with 8.9GW and 8GW, respectively, report says.
Previous corporate clean-energy title holder Google dropped out of the race, having turned its attention “more to sourcing 24/7 carbon-free power through methods other than PPAs.”
“The renewable energy portfolios of significant internet businesses now match those of the world’s top utilities,” said Helen Dewhurst, senior associate at BNEF. Investors are putting increasing pressure on Big Tech to decarbonize, which is reflected in the sharp growth in renewable energy quantities acquired. The prior years’ PPAs pale in contrast to the portfolios released in 2021.”
Corporate PPAs increased over 24 percent from the previous year’s record of 25.1GW in 2021, fueled by more than two-thirds of total yearly purchase (65 percent) in the US. In a sector-by-sector breakdown, the world’s leading technology giants inked more than half of the transactions, which, according to BNEF, covered more than 137 organizations from 32 different nations.
According to Kyle Harrison, BNEF’s director of sustainability research, total signed volumes tied to corporate PPAs accounted for more than 10% of all renewable energy capacity added worldwide last year, “demonstrating the influence corporate sustainability promises are having” on clean energy construction.