‍24/7 carbon-free energy is an advanced clean energy procurement strategy currently advocated by corporates and think tanks. It involves a commitment to operating on 100% clean electricity around the clock. This means ensuring that every kilowatt-hour of electricity used comes from sources like wind, solar, hydro, or other renewable technologies generated on the same grid region and at the same time as consumption.

The argument for adopting 24/7 carbon-free energy is that by purchasing clean electricity from the grids where businesses operate in line with their consumption, they directly support the growth of renewable energy in their communities. This reduces their carbon footprint and sends signals for the deployment of technological innovations like storage and flexible energy sources to ensure a reliable supply of carbon-free electricity.

Climate Group, an international non-profit that works to help organizations make climate commitments and works towards these goals, launched the 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition this year during NYC Climate Week. 

What Is the 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition?

The 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition is an emerging voluntary scheme which builds on the success of the RE100 campaign. Currently in its pilot phase with founding partners like Google and AstraZeneca. Businesses who join the coalition will pledge to move towards powering their businesses using 24/7 carbon-free electricity— every hour, every day, sourced locally.

In the announcement of this Coalition, Climate Group highlighted how embracing 24/7 carbon-free electricity targets can foster innovation by speeding up the advancement and implementation of diverse technologies. They explain how this can increase renewable energy capacity, improve battery storage systems, and utilize flexible grid technologies to guarantee access to clean power, even during periods of low renewable generation.

This initiative aligns with global efforts to decarbonize the economy, mirroring similar developments in the EU and US regulation and incentives. For instance, the EU's RFNBO Delegated Act mandates hourly matching and location matching for renewable energy sources, while the US Inflation Reduction Act considers similar provisions for clean hydrogen producers who want to access the 45v Tax Credit. 

Executing a 24/7 CFE Strategy

A 24/7 CFE approach goes beyond traditional renewable energy procurement. It focuses on the hourly alignment of consumption, introducing additional KPIs and refining existing ones. This requires a lot more granular data in order to monitor progress and identify gaps in procurement where you are currently relying on energy that is not carbon-free to supply your operations. 

The key datasets needed to execute this strategy include: granular production/consumption meter data (we wrote a whole paper on getting this data here), Energy attribute certificate (EAC) or Granular Certificate (GC, registry and config 3) and hourly average grid emissions.

How Flexidao Can Help

Since 2020, Flexidao has been at the forefront of supporting corporate clean energy buyers in their pursuit of 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) goals. Since 2023, we have been monitoring Google’s global clean energy portfolio, supporting their progress and establishing ourselves as the market leading clean energy intelligence platform with global energy, carbon, and certificate integration capabilities. Flexidao has now monitored over 20 TWh of hourly matched electrons for our customers. Leveraging years of experience, we have also contributed as advisors to the 24/7 Coalition, helping to inform this leadership program to ensure an optimal balance between impact and feasibility.

We work with organizations to assess how they can execute a 24/7 CFE strategy. This includes:

1. A thorough assessment of existing energy contracts and certificates to provide a complete picture of your global renewable energy profile using 24/7 CFE methodology.

2. We then work with you to develop multiple scenarios for increasing your carbon free energy coverage and building a strategic road map.

3. We have advanced data access capabilities that allow businesses to track electricity and emissions data up to hourly intervals for a detailed view of your portfolio's performance.

4. We collect, aggregate and quality check all this data for our clients using our automated service.

5. Our intuitive platform then provides all necessary functionalities for tracking, verifying, and managing renewable energy attributes in line with your evolving strategy.

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Want to develop your clean energy strategy alongside evolving regulations? Reach out today so you can join the 24/7 CFE Coalition with the right tools in place.