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					</table><p>Corporations announced a record 46 GW of solar and wind contracts in 2023, with a 12% year-over-year (YoY) increase from 41 GW in 2022, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance&#8217;s (<a href="https://about.bnef.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BNEF</a>) Corporate Energy Market outlook for the first half of fiscal year 2024.</p>
<p>Companies&#8217; clean energy goals drove these record contracts.</p>
<p>The record increase in contracts was fueled by companies&#8217; commitments to clean energy goals.</p>
<p>In 2023, 45% or 20.9 GW of power purchase agreements (PPA) were announced in the Americas, with Europe following with 33% or 15.4 GW.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has never been easier to buy clean energy as a corporation. For the first time, a variety of contracting structures are now widely available around the world to help companies decarbonize their energy consumption. These contracts are now the centerpiece in many companies&#8217; sustainability strategies, rather than a nice-to-have,&#8221; said Kyle Harrison, Head of Sustainability Research at BloombergNEF.</p>
<p><strong>Europe most attractive market </strong></p>
<p>From 2022 to 2023, Europe experienced the largest growth by far, with its corporate PPA volumes surging by 74% to 15.4 GW. This was due to supply chain hurdles easing and gas balances normalizing following the region&#8217;s 2022 energy crisis, which saw a drop in corporate PPA prices.</p>
<p>This made European markets economically attractive for signing deals. The markets in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands alone made up for over half of the deals announced in the region in 2023.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Corporate-power-purchase-agreement-volumes.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-63445 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Corporate-power-purchase-agreement-volumes.png" alt="Corporate power purchase agreement volumes" width="472" height="230" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Corporate-power-purchase-agreement-volumes.png 472w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Corporate-power-purchase-agreement-volumes-300x146.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px" /></a></p>
<p>Unlike Europe, the economics for the signing of PPAs in the U.S. was relatively weaker. Despite remaining the largest market for PPAs with 17.3 GW worth of deals announced, the country saw a 16% YoY decrease from the record 20.6 GW announced in 2022.</p>
<p>This was due to developers being locked into expensive contracts that were signed in prior years and experiencing supply chain bottlenecks. In addition to this, high-interest rates caused the PPA prices in the U.S. to increase by 4% in the first half of 2023.</p>
<p>The power prices did not increase following these rates, resulting in buyers holding off on signing deals until the markets recalibrated.</p>
<p><strong>Amazon led with 8.8 GW</strong></p>
<p>For the fourth consecutive year, Amazon was the largest corporate buyer of clean energy globally. Last year alone, the company entered into PPAs worth 8.8 GW across 16 countries. Amazon&#8217;s clean energy portfolio stands at 33.6 GW, which is greater than the power generation fleets of markets like Belgium and Chile.</p>
<p>In India alone, the company operates seven utility-scale renewable energy projects, with the latest addition being <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/amazon-utility-scale-renewable-project-india">announced</a> in Osmanabad, Maharashtra.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Top-corporate-buyers-of-clean-energy.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-63447 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Top-corporate-buyers-of-clean-energy.png" alt="Top corporate buyers of clean energy" width="478" height="214" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Top-corporate-buyers-of-clean-energy.png 478w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Top-corporate-buyers-of-clean-energy-300x134.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px" /></a></p>
<p>Among the 200 companies that BNEF tracked, Amazon topped the list, with <a href="https://about.meta.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a>, <a href="https://www.lyondellbasell.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LyondellBasell</a><u>,</u> and <a href="https://about.google/intl/ALL_in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> following closely behind.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the rise of artificial intelligence, electrification of transport, and increased need for manufacturing, we expect power demand from the private sector to surge in the coming years. Clean energy, especially through PPAs, will likely be many companies&#8217; first, best option,&#8221; added Harrisson.</p>
<p><strong>Tata Power among top five </strong></p>
<p>In 2023, companies inked deals with over 150 developer counterparties. French utility provider <a href="https://www.engie.com/en">Engie</a>, which sold the most clean energy to companies, made 2.4 GW worth of deals through PPAs last year. The company was also the only major developer to sign a solar, onshore, and offshore wind corporate PPA in 2023.</p>
<p>Engie was followed by <a href="https://www.aes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AES</a>, which announced 1.9 GW of deals.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tatapower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tata Power</a> (1.2 GW), <a href="https://lightsourcebp.com/in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lightsource BP</a> (1 GW), and <a href="https://www.eneco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eneco</a> (0.9 GW) rounded out the top five developers in 2023, and selling to corporations will continue to be a key strategy for them.</p>
<p>According to Mercom Capital Group’s newly released <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/product/annual-q4-2023-solar-funding-ma-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Annual and Q4 2023 Solar Funding and M&amp;A Report</a>, global corporate funding in the solar sector in 2023, including venture capital investments, public market funding, and debt financing, reached $34.3 billion, a 42% year-over-year increase from $24.1 billion. This was the largest amount raised in over a decade.</p>


Corporate Buying of Clean Energy Increased 12% in 2023: BNEF


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					</table><p>Even as power purchase agreement (PPA) prices increased, corporations in the United States procured nearly 20 GW of clean energy in 2022.</p>
<p>Cumulatively, 326 companies contracted 77.4 GW of clean energy by the end of 2022. Of this, 36 GW is operational, making up 16% of the total operational clean energy capacity in the U.S.</p>
<p>Amazon leads the pack as the largest corporate buyer of clean energy in the U.S. with a contracted capacity of 12.4 GW, followed closely by Meta at 8.7 GW and Google at 6.2 GW.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-48563 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers.png" alt="Top 20 purchasers" width="695" height="530" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers.png 695w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers-300x229.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers-650x496.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers-624x476.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Top-20-purchasers-600x458.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 695px) 100vw, 695px" /></a>Image: American Clean Power Association</em></p>
<p>The findings are part of a report released by the <a href="https://cleanpower.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Clean Power Association</a> highlighting how companies are driving demand for U.S. clean energy and speeding up the transition by purchasing it directly from wind, solar, and energy storage projects.</p>
<p>Around 67% of corporate clean energy contracts are under 100 MW, while 33% are over 100 MW.</p>
<p>The trend has shifted towards larger contracts in recent years, with over half of the contracts signed in 2021 and 2022 being larger than 100 MW.</p>
<p>Commercial and industrial companies have announced 58 GW of clean power contracts, making up 76% of the total contracted capacity.</p>
<p><strong>Operational capacity</strong></p>
<p>Meta is the leader in operational clean energy with over 4.8 GW in use, including 3 GW solar and 1.8 GW wind.</p>
<p>With 12.4 GW contracted, Amazon only has 19% operational and was brought online from 2015 to 2022.</p>
<p>Google is close behind, with 2.5 GW of operational clean energy, mostly wind capacity.</p>
<p>Around 271 companies are buying operational clean energy, with 73 companies purchasing 100 MW or more, 15 buying 500 MW or more, and 6 buying over 1 GW.</p>
<p>Wind energy makes up two-thirds of operational clean energy contracted to corporations.</p>
<p><strong>Solar</strong></p>
<p>Corporate entities are increasingly interested in solar power, diversifying their clean energy portfolio after years of prioritizing wind. American businesses have contracted 45 GW of large-scale solar power, with 28% operational and the rest under development.</p>
<p>The number of solar procurement announcements rose rapidly from 2017 to 2022, reaching a record high of 14.4 GW in 2022 compared to 576 MW in 2017.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-48575 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year.png" alt="Corporate Contracted Solar Capacity by Announcement Year" width="771" height="548" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year.png 771w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year-300x213.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year-768x546.png 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year-650x462.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year-624x444.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Corporate-Contracted-Solar-Capacity-by-Announcement-Year-600x426.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /></a>Image: American Clean Power Association</em></p>
<p><strong>Wind</strong></p>
<p>Corporations have been purchasing wind energy, the older clean power technology, since 2010.</p>
<p>They have signed contracts for 28.8 GW of energy from utility-scale, land-based wind projects, with 81% of that capacity currently operating.</p>
<p>Annual wind procurement peaked in 2018 at 5 GW and then decreased by an average of 18% annually through 2021. However, there was a 25% increase in corporate wind procurement in 2022, with 4 GW of new announcements.</p>
<p>Wind makes up 37% of the total clean power capacity contracted by U.S. businesses and 65% of operational capacity.</p>
<p>Currently, no corporations have agreements for offshore wind in the U.S.</p>
<p><strong>Storage</strong></p>
<p>Corporate buyers have shown limited interest in wind plus storage projects, which are less common than solar + storage projects.</p>
<p>So far, only 12 corporations have signed contracts for 548 MW from three wind plus storage hybrid projects. Corporations make up 14% of the U.S. wind plus storage project capacity online or under development.</p>
<p>Texas is the top state for clean energy projects contracted by corporate buyers, accounting for 35% of capacity and 20% of projects. Corporations favor Texas-based projects over projects in the state, where only 21% of all clean energy capacity is located.</p>
<p>Corporate buyers have contracted around 107 clean energy projects in Texas with a total capacity of 27 GW.</p>
<p>Illinois ranks second with 32 contracted projects for 5.1 GW.</p>
<p>The overall solar installations across all market segments in the U.S. are likely to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/ira-help-us-solar-installations-to-triple-by-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple</a> in size, increasing from 129 GW to 336 GW in the next five years, according to an earlier report published by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.</p>
<p>Wood Mackenzie said in another report that the Inflation Reduction Act will <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-renewable-114-billion-investments-2031-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">propel</a> annual investment in the country’s renewable energy sector to nearly $114 billion by 2031 from $64 billion in 2022.</p>
<p>The commercial and industrial sector is a major contributor to the growth of solar energy in India. The increasing demand for reliable and cost-effective energy solutions, coupled with government incentives and subsidies, has led to a surge in solar installations in this segment.</p>
<p>According to a Wood Mackenzie report, Indian corporates <a href="https://mercomindia.com/indian-corporates-are-top-green-energy-asia-pacific-region/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led</a> renewable procurement market in the Asia Pacific region by procuring 8.1 GW in the first half of 2022.</p>


US-based Corporations Procured 20 GW of Clean Energy in 2022


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					</table><p>Mumbai-based renewable energy company CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions (<a href="https://www.cleanmax.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CleanMax</a>) has partnered with global internet giant <a href="https://about.meta.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> to invest in 33.8 MW of new renewable energy projects in India.</p>
<p>The projects will comprise 21.6 MW wind and 12.2 MW solar installations. Last year, the two companies had announced an agreement for 32 MW of wind energy projects.</p>
<p>CleanMax will own and operate the projects, while Meta will purchase 100% of the green attributes from the projects.</p>
<p>The two companies’ total investment in renewable energy stands at 65 MW.</p>
<p>The overall capacity of the CleanMax wind-solar hybrid farm will stand at 364 MW, comprising 154 MW wind and 210 MW solar once commissioned.</p>
<p>“We continue to deepen our relationship with Meta with the new power projects and are committed to support their net zero ambitions in the future. Since the inception of CleanMax in 2011, we have been pioneers in the corporate sustainability space and take immense pride in our ability to come up with customized solutions for corporate consumers. The continued partnership with Meta is a right step in that direction,” said Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director of CleanMax.</p>
<p>Last year, the two companies <a href="https://mercomindia.com/facebook-ties-cleanmax-source-renewable-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entered</a> into a partnership to assemble a portfolio of wind and solar projects supplying renewable power into India’s electrical grid in states where Meta’s facilities are also present.</p>
<p>CleanMax operates over 600 MW of large-scale solar and wind farms to supply clean energy to its corporate customers. CleanMax has installed 600 rooftop solar projects for corporates, with a total rooftop solar operating capacity of over 350 MW across India, UAE, and Thailand.</p>
<p>Last September, CleanMax <a href="https://mercomindia.com/upl-cleanmax-develop-61-mw-wind-solar-hybrid-project/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a joint venture with sustainable agriculture solutions provider UPL to establish a 61.05 MW wind-solar hybrid power project in Gujarat. The project will comprise 28.05 MW solar and 33 MW wind projects.</p>
<p>Last December, <a href="https://www.cleanmax.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CleanMax</a> received $34 million in funding from the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries. The company will utilize the fund to enhance its commercial and industrial renewable energy portfolio in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.</p>


CleanMax and Meta to Invest in 33.8 MW Renewable Energy Projects in India


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					</table><p>Corporates in the United States installed nearly 19 GW of onsite and offsite solar capacity cumulatively till June 2022. This includes 25 leading U.S.-based companies like <a href="https://about.meta.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a>, <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/?utm_source=gateway&amp;utm_medium=footer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a>, and <a href="https://www.walmart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walmart</a> installing 14% of the overall capacity.</p>
<p>The recently released ‘Solar Means Business 2022’ report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (<a href="https://www.seia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEIA</a>) attributes the rapid expansion of offsite-solar procurement, which represents 55% of all commercial solar use, to the increase in installed capacity by U.S. businesses.</p>
<p>Meta has installed the highest solar capacity of 3.6 GW through June 2022, three times more than its closest counterpart Amazon at 1.1 GW. The solar energy offtake of the tech giant has grown by over 380% since 2019-end.</p>
<p>Further, a 51% drop in solar energy prices since 2012 has fuelled commercial demand.</p>
<p>There are now 23 U.S. companies that have installed at least 100 MW of solar capacity, up from 11 companies in 2019. Eighteen of the top 25 companies ranked in this report are pursuing 100% renewable energy or carbon-neutral goals.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-45605 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Picture1-1.png" alt="" width="602" height="416" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Picture1-1.png 602w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Picture1-1-300x207.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Picture1-1-600x415.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.apple.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft</a> together installed 1.5 GW of solar capacity through June 2022, revealing a significant investment by the two firms in solar to power their data centers.</p>
<p>Walmart stands fourth on the list, with 689 MW capacity installed until June.</p>
<p>Retailer <a href="https://www.target.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Target</a> came behind Microsoft at the first spot for installing 515 MW of solar capacity as nearly 30% of its stores are equipped with rooftop solar systems. Walmart and Target together are leading in the number of individual solar systems installed.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://mercomindia.com/inflation-reduction-act-a-gamechanger-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passage</a> of the Inflation Reduction Act is also one of the major contributing factors, as it will support both onsite and offsite solar markets.</p>
<p>The report points out that the Act is expected to boost the onsite market by 24% until 2027, while the offsite markets will likely grow by 51% over the next five years.</p>
<p>The report states that the onsite commercial market’s average annual growth rate will go up by 11% between 2023-27. The utility-scale market, which includes 20-25% of the offsite corporate market, is set to grow by 45% by 2027.</p>
<p>“From data centers to industrial freezers, the most energy-intensive business operations are turning to solar as the most reliable and affordable way to power their infrastructure,” said SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.</p>
<p>The report said the competitive power prices from utility-scale projects have ensured that the prices of offsite systems have also moved downwards.</p>
<p>Another joint report by SEIA and Wood Mackenzie <a href="https://mercomindia.com/ira-help-us-solar-installations-to-triple-by-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> earlier this year said overall solar installations across all market segments in the U.S. will increase to 336 GW by 2027 from 129 GW currently.</p>


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