Four non-governmental organizations have formed the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), a new coalition to empower multinational companies to transform electricity systems with renewable energy. REBA aims to help facilitate and deploy 60 gigawatts (GWs) of new corporate renewable energy in the United States by 2025.
REBA is led by BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), Rocky Mountain Institute, World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund. Over 60 companies are members of one or more of REBA’s initiatives.
REBA facilitates solutions among customers, renewable energy suppliers, utilities, and policy makers to overcome market barriers and drive collaboration among all parties. Each of the four organizations that make up the coalition addresses the needs of U.S. businesses looking to secure renewable energy by:
- Aggregating corporate purchasing demand, articulating business needs to the market, and working with utilities to develop solutions that better serve corporate buyers through World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund’s Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles;
- Developing the ecosystem of solutions providers, scaling renewable energy developments, and helping companies execute their renewable energy strategies through Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewables Center; and
- Increasing companies use of renewable energy to power data centers by collaborating with power providers, utilities, and policymakers through BSR’s Future of Internet Power.
“We’re proud to be part of the REBA network and the movement to accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” said Brian Janous, director of energy strategy at Microsoft. “We are committed not only to increasing our purchase of green power, but also to working with new partners to bring even more renewable energy onto the grid where we do business.”
“REBA provides the platform for companies to use their collective influence to signal market demand for renewables, and the coalition also gives businesses the resources to set and achieve ambitious renewable energy goals – whether it be infrastructure at their own headquarters or space leased in an energy intensive data center,” said Eric Olson, senior vice president, BSR.
“The extremely competitive and stable prices of wind and solar energy offer a tremendous value proposition for businesses in terms of economics and sustainability,” said Michael Polsky, founder, president and
CEO, Invenergy.
“As the largest US companies began setting ever more ambitious climate and renewable energy goals for business reasons, they realized their views weren’t being heard in the marketplace of utilities, utility regulators and renewable energy providers,” said Marty Spitzer, director, US climate and renewable energy policy at World Wildlife Fund. “REBA provides these buyers with a voice and creates a collaborative platform to scale renewable energy solutions that meet the needs of buyers, developers, utilities and regulators.”
“There is real potential to expand renewable energy affordably when customers, utilities and developers collaborate. REBA allows us all to be more effective in a complex and rapidly changing sector,” said
Letha Tawney, director of utility innovation at World Resources Institute. “We see innovative deals emerging between these players that unlock real value for everyone on the grid.”
“In 2015, we found out that companies signed more than 3 GWs of renewable energy purchases, tripling from 2014,” said HervéTouati, managing director, Rocky Mountain Institute. “More companies want to power their operations with renewable energy, but navigating the path to renewables is harder than it should be. REBA works across buyers, intermediaries, and developers to provide solutions and tools to meet rapidly growing corporate demand.”
“We need to develop more new sources of renewable energy, and we need to make it easier for companies of all kinds to use renewable energy,” said Bill Weihl, director of sustainability at Facebook. “We know from our experience with initiatives like the Open Compute Project that openness and collaboration help everyone move faster, and we’re excited to work with the other founding members of REBA to help green the grid. Together we will all have a much greater impact.”
