Advancing from Annual to Hourly Carbon-Free Energy Matching
3 min readSustainability initiatives are becoming an increased focus for businesses as they aim to reduce their carbon footprints, making the advancement towards cleaner energy sources a strategic imperative for companies. As part of this commitment, many organizations are embracing the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), driving the adoption of energy efficiency projects, renewable and carbon-free energy, and sustainable supply chains.
Annual carbon-free energy products have played a crucial role in helping businesses meet their sustainability goals. These proven solutions have provided a solid foundation for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting renewable energy adoption. As the urgency to address climate change increases, companies are also exploring additional solutions that complement their existing strategies and annual carbon-free energy products.
Implementing Annual Matching Solutions
Businesses have a variety of solutions they can adopt to reduce Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions and support zero-carbon electricity generation. Some of these solutions include:
- Emission-Free Energy Certificates (EFECs): A cost-effective alternative to renewable energy purchases, allowing businesses to quickly begin their journey towards lower emissions.
- Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs): Supporting sustainability goals by representing the environmental benefits of renewable energy.
- Constellation Offsite Renewables (CORe): Integrating renewable energy purchases from existing or new build renewable generation assets into a load-following energy supply agreement.
Annual matching products provide significant benefits and put businesses on the right path towards reaching their sustainability goals. Businesses can achieve more granular targets with solutions that align energy usage with clean energy sources on an hourly basis.
Transitioning to Hourly Carbon-Free Energy Matching
Hourly carbon-free energy (CFE) matching incorporates both time and location-based CFE criteria. This approach allows businesses to match their energy usage on an hourly basis, ensuring that their consumption is matched with supply from the same regional grid every single hour. Constellation can enhance your sustainability strategy by integrating both new and prior carbon-free purchases into your overall CFE strategy, providing a comprehensive approach to carbon reduction.
Purchasing hourly CFE through Constellation can help your business:
- Achieve Real-Time Impact: Match carbon-free generation with your consumption hour by hour, including tracking and reporting of hourly usage, generation and emissions.
- Enhance Transparency: Ensure your electricity consumption is matched with attributes (RECs or EFECs) from carbon-free generators in your grid for each hour.
- Monitor Progress: Track progress on-demand through Constellation’s Hourly CFE Dashboard, available in Constellation’s digital platform.
- Ensure Compliance: Ensure hourly retirements of RECs and EFECs in the PJM GATS registry at year-end.*
Increasing Impact with Hourly Matching
Hourly carbon-free energy matching helps businesses both meet their environmental goals and drive significant advancements in the broader energy landscape. By aligning energy consumption with carbon-free generation on an hourly basis, companies can ensure their operations are consistently powered by clean energy. Additionally, customers who choose to enhance their sustainability strategy through CORe+ products for their PJM accounts have the option to exchange their project RECs for other time-matched carbon-free energy (CFE) attributes during certain periods, enabling them upgrade to a full 24/7 CFE match.
The impact of the hourly CFE product is substantial. It has facilitated the procurement of 3.5 million MWhs of hourly-matched energy, supporting customers’ sustainability goals. This amount of clean energy is equivalent to the carbon sequestering nearly 1.4 million acres of US forests in a year, or the emissions from 324,360 gas-powered cars driven for one year – a significant sustainability impact.
Join Constellation in the Clean Energy Revolution
At Constellation, we are committed to transforming the energy landscape by offering innovative carbon-free solutions. Our mission is to empower businesses to achieve their sustainability goals through solutions that align with their operational needs. By adopting hourly CFE matching, businesses can play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting a cleaner future.
Take Action
Elevate your business’s sustainability strategy with the transformative potential of hourly carbon-free energy matching. Download Constellation’s White Paper on Preparing for the Next Stage of Corporate Clean Energy Procurement to learn more about how our hourly CFE matching product can drive significant environmental impact and help your business advance towards a more sustainable future.
*Hourly retirements of RECs and EFECs are available in the PJM region only.
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