Corporations bought over 31GW of renewable electricity through power purchase agreements (PPAs) in 2021, a new record, according to research by BloombergNEF (BNEF).
BNEF said in its ‘1H 2022 Corporate Energy Market Outlook’ that the 31.GW purchased last year was up nearly 24% on the previous year’s 25.1GW.
Almost two thirds (65%) or 20.3GW of the PPAs were struck in the Americas, of which 17GW were in the US, the researchers said.
Large technology companies collectively signed over half of the deals, it added.
Total signed volumes were equivalent to more than 10% of all the renewable energy capacity added globally last year, BNEF said.
BNEF head of sustainability research Kyle Harrison said: “It is no longer a matter of whether corporate clean energy procurement will grow each year, it’s a matter of how much.
“More corporations are making new sustainability commitments, costs for renewables are plummeting and regulators around the world are slowly coming around to the fact that clean energy might be a silver bullet in the decarbonization of the private sector.”
BNEF said the virtual PPA, which functions in a similar way to a financial hedge, continues to dominate the US market, with 12GW of deals, but green tariffs with regulated utilities also experienced a record year, at 3.2GW.
Europe saw a record 8.7GW of deals announced, with big years from Spain and the Nordics.
Across Asia, just 2GW of PPAs were announced.
Amazon was the biggest buyer globally, announcing 44 offsite PPAs in nine countries, totalling 6.2GW.
This brings its total clean energy PPA capacity to 13.9GW, making its clean energy portfolio the 12th largest globally among all types of companies, just ahead of EDF.
Microsoft and Meta have the next largest among corporations, at 8.9GW and 8GW, respectively.
Previously, Google held the corporate clean energy crown, but has turned its attention more to sourcing 24/7 carbon-free power through methods outside of PPAs.