LevelTen Energy, an aggregator of renewable energy for C&I customers, announced this week the launch of their data-driven marketplace, an offering built to scale, simplify and standardize renewable energy procurement. According to LevelTen, the marketplace reduces the cost, complexity and risk of renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) through an online platform that offers to both buyers and sellers advanced analytics, standard documentation and process best practices.
“Until now, the market for renewable energy was largely opaque for commercial and industrial buyers,” said Bryce Smith, founder and CEO of LevelTen Energy, in an interview with Energy Manager Today. “Even for firms with near unlimited resources and entire procurement teams devoted to buying green power, the process could still take years. With the LevelTen Energy marketplace, all businesses have access to more than 800 renewable energy projects across the country, along with sophisticated analysis of those projects to clarify for buyers the risks and potential impact on their bottom line. Through aggregation and a transparent buying process, our goal is to support commercial and industrial buyers in meeting sustainability goals and increase the pool of renewable energy buyers in the market overall.”
The LevelTen Marketplace launches at a critical time for businesses and institutions. Right now, 48% of the Fortune 500 have at least one climate or clean energy target, according to worldwildlife.org. Previous attempts at renewable marketplaces have seen limited adoption due to steep access fees, limited project availability or insufficient analytical components to assess risk and value for corporate buyers.
The LevelTen Marketplace provides project data and analysis, transaction tools and select consulting services to all credentialed renewable energy buyers and sellers. The advanced analytical tools process on a daily basis more than 8 million data points across more than 800 projects to help all energy buyers evaluate value, risk and other critical criteria for investment.
LevelTen has implemented new aggregation options through national and regional renewable energy portfolios to expand the market for buyers to deliver the economics of the market’s best projects at significantly lower risk. Also included in the Marketplace is a fully automated request for proposal (RFP) process, allowing companies to issue RFPs for free and shorten the process to complete the RFP from months to weeks.
“The conversation around sustainability at the corporate level has become a given,” said Rob Harmon, advisor to LevelTen and expert in environmental entrepreneurship and policy. “What’s less clear to a business, however, is how to reach their sustainability goals — what is that next step? Unlike the existing broker-driven model, LevelTen Energy offers to buyers the analytics required to completely understand the risk in energy projects they invest in and how their investment impacts the bottom line.”
For Miranda Ballentine, managing director at Rocky Mountain Institute, aggregation is key to growing the renewable energy industry overall. Said Ballentine, “Aggregating demand can and will accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement, especially for buyers who cannot participate in the large scale purchasing market today.”
Mark your calendars: The 3rd Annual Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference takes place May 15 – 17, 2018 in Denver. Learn more here.