Abstract
Corporations and other institutions have contracted for more than 2300 MW of off-site solar, using power purchase agreements, green tariffs, or bilateral deals with utilities. This paper examines the benefits, challenges, and outlooks for large-scale off-site solar purchasing in the United States. Pathways differ based on where they are available, the hedge value they can provide, and their ease of implementation. The paper features case studies of an aggregate PPA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Medical Center, and Post Office Square), a corporation exiting their incumbent utility (MGM Resorts), a utility offering large scale renewables to corporate customers (Alabama Powers Renewable Procurement Program), and a company with approval to sell energy into wholesale markets (Google Energy Inc.).
Original language | American English |
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Number of pages | 52 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2017 |
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/TP-6A20-69080
Keywords
- corporate purchasing
- green tariff
- Power Purchase Agreement
- retail choice
- soft costs
- solar
- solar purchasing
- utility-scale
- voluntary market
- wholesale supplier