The Rocky Mountain Institute launched its new Business Renewables Center (BRC) to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement. The BRC launched with more than 25 founding members, including major corporations, renewables project developers and transaction service providers. The BRC founding corporate energy 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 BRC’s goal is to add another 60 GW of wind and solar by 2025, which will nearly double installed US capacity.
According to RMI, corporations can be a powerful lever for expanding renewable energy in the United States and beyond. But while nearly two-thirds of Fortune 100 and nearly half of Fortune 500 companies have commitments to shift to renewables, most have not taken action due to the high transaction cost and complexity of large-scale renewables transactions. The BRC aims to remove the main obstacles preventing corporations from building renewables into their energy profiles.
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 of the industry.
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 founding transaction service providers include Altenex, Climate Friendly, Customer First Renewables, Origin Climate, Renewable Choice Energy, Renewable Power Direct and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
