The American Clean Power Association (ACP) has released a report that shows corporations purchased more clean energy in 2022 than any previous year.
The Clean Energy Powers American Business report provides a detailed picture of how commercial and industrial (C&I) companies are driving demand for American clean energy and accelerating the clean energy transition through purchases of clean power directly from wind, solar and energy storage plants.
Even as power purchase agreement (PPA) prices increased, corporations purchased nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy in 2022, more than 4 GW higher than any previous year. By the end of the year, over 300 corporations had contracted more than 77 GW of clean energy.
Key facts from the report:
- Technology companies have contracted more clean energy than any other industry, and Amazon, Meta and Google – in that order – are the top three clean power buyers, with recent announcements by Amazon and Meta causing them to overtake Google, the former leader.
- The energy industry now has the second most clean power capacity contracted at 6.7 GW, with traditional oil and gas companies such as Shell, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil accounting for 60% of total capacity contracted by energy companies.
- Corporations are purchasing clean energy from 540 projects spread across 49 states, DC, and Puerto Rico, but Texas is home to the majority of corporate contracted clean power, followed by Illinois and Ohio.
- 326 companies have clean power procurement agreements in place across the nation, with operating contracts accounting for 16% of total operating clean power in the United States – the equivalent of nearly 6 million American homes.
- Solar projects are now outpacing wind as the preferred choice for corporate buyers, with utility-scale solar accounting for 58% of corporate contracted clean power. Hybrid projects that include storage – primarily solar plus storage – are growing rapidly.
- Projects with corporate buyers support local economies with approximately $143 million in state and local tax payments and $147 million in land lease payments to local farmers and landowners.
- They also avoid almost 47 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.
