Over 300 companies, including Google, Facebook, General Motors and Walmart, have formed a buyers alliance that aims to bring more than 60GW of new clean power online in the US by 2025.
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), which will have offices in Washington DC and Boulder, Colorado, has a leadership circle that represents annual revenues of $1 trillion and 1% of US electricity consumption (48 terra-watt hours).
REBA said it will provide a forum to bring companies together to help move to a more sustainable future.
Membership is open to any non-residential energy buyer, as well as renewables developers and other service providers committed to carbon-free energy, it said.
Another aim will be to open energy markets in the US to provide greater choice to corporate buyers.
REBA said: “In many parts of the US, the electricity system functions largely the same way it did 75 years ago.
“In the decades since, clean energy costs have come down and consumer preferences have evolved.
“Price is no longer the barrier – to the contrary, historic cost declines mean that renewable energy has increasingly become the most cost-effective resource available.
“Today it is lack of access to purchase these resources that is holding us back.”
REBA will offer its members education programmes, tools and training to help them buy clean energy.
It will also provide policy advocacy, research and data to support market growth and coordinate globally to expand renewables in markets worldwide.
REBA chief executive Miranda Ballentine said: “Never before has such a diverse group of organisations, from every industry, from every sector, come together to form an association with a single, market-focused, mission-driven vision of a zero-carbon energy future.
“Large energy buyers have the power to move markets.”
Google head of energy market strategy and REBA board chair Michael Terrell said: “Every enterprise – whether it’s a bakery, a big-box retailer, or a data centre – should have an easy and direct path to buy clean energy.
“Ultimately, sourcing clean energy should be as simple as clicking a button.”
General Motors global manager of sustainable energy and supply reliability Rob Threlkeld said: “Today’s REBA launch demonstrates that large energy buyers from across every sector of the US economy, large and small, are committed to doing their part to solve this problem. At General Motors, we are proud to be a founding member.”
Walmart director of energy services Steve Chriss said: “We commend REBA and its members for their advocacy of policy solutions that seek to create more accessible pathways for consumers of all sizes to buy renewable energy.
“These efforts will play a critically important role in pursuit of meeting the 60 gigawatt goal that REBA members have set.”