Demand among corporates worldwide for renewable electricity is exceeding supply, according to analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
The shortfall in RE100 clean electricity demand is now projected to reach 224 terawatt-hours in 2030, up from BNEF’s previous estimate of 210TWh.
Total signatories in the RE100 number 242, equating to 247TWh of electricity demand.
The figures have been published in BNEF’s 2H 2020 Corporate Energy Market Outlook – The pandemic edition.
Private enterprises and public institutions bought 8.9GW of clean energy through power purchase agreements in 2020 through July, the report found.
Though activity is currently pacing ahead of 2019, a “big second half” will be required in order for the market to hit record volumes by year-end, BNEF stated, with Covid-19 posing the biggest challenge to growth through the rest of this year.
BNEF also found that compared with the trend in previous years, deals will have to be globally spread for a new record to be established in 2020.
The US, which is the world’s largest corporate PPA market, has seen activity drop “significantly”, partially due to the pandemic.
Other regions are picking up the slack, the report found, with Latin America positioned for a record year, off the back of bespoke agreements signed by offtakers in Brazil’s wholesale market.
Procurement in Europe is rapidly diversifying away from the Nordics and into new markets like France and Spain, the report highlighted.
In Asia-Pacific, Taiwan and Australia have seen significant activity and South Korea is poised to be the “next great corporate procurement market”, the analyst outfit found.
“The campaign is growing faster than developers can supply it, with18TWh of incremental electricity demand added this year, far exceeding (when put in capacity terms) the 1.1GW of clean energy purchased by incumbent members over the same period,” BNEF stated.