The goal of this project is to develop a framework to help small and medium-sized commercial and industrial (C&I) energy customers in Europe procure affordable renewable energy that provides ‘additionality,’ or when new renewable energy demand results in the construction of new renewable power generation. The market presently provides three primary options for C&I customers:

OptionDownsides

Procure ‘green tariffs’ from local utilities in the form of Guarantees of Origin (GO)Lacks additionality

Negotiate and procure renewable energy through a PPAMay involve additionality, but at high cost and complexity, long timelines, and may not be appropriate for smaller companies with uncertain future energy needs

Build distributed generation systems specific to the company’s needsComplex and outside most companies’ traditional business model

ECOHZ has created a new option that allows small and medium-sized companies to adopt renewable energy while providing additionality resulting in building new wind and hydro plants – a product called a GO2. Many renewable energy projects in Europe are able to aggregate funding up to around 85% of the total required funds, but requires outside sources to fully fund the project. In this scenario, a C&I customer provides a years’ down payment of GO2 as upfront financing. These funds are pooled and used to fulfill the last 5-15% of a new renewable project’s overall financing, or capital stack. Thus, ECOHZ uses the funds from the GO2 to get the project fully funded and ready to break ground.

However, the GO2 product has been challenging to market to customers. The purpose of this project is to help ECOHZ identify the environmental and economic benefits for the GO2 product relative to other options on the market.

As a result of this project, ECOHZ will be able to ease the adoption of new renewable energy generation for the small and mid-size C&I market in Europe and allow these customers to reduce their carbon emissions. This project will help bridge the divide between companies that desire to reduce their environmental footprint while meeting business objectives.

The following project deliverables are anticipated:

1. Identify countries in Europe where PPAs are attractive or unattractive due to existing regulatory and market conditions (Environmental Policy & Planning)
   • Identify top 3-5 countries that are the most attractive for the GO2 product due to complex/expensive PPA or alternative renewable energy products
2. Segment the market to identify companies that best fit the GO2 model. Specifically, look at company power demand, geographic locations, geographic instability - likelihood of moving plants/offices, whether they or other comparable companies have RE100 goals, and consider their customers' demand for green products (Sustainable Systems, Environmental Informatics)
3. Estimate the price for PPAs in the target European markets and compare these prices to the cost for a GO2 (Sustainable Systems, Env Informatics)
4. Create an integrated model that illustrates the economic and environmental benefits from procuring renewable energy (SS, Env Informatics, EPP, BEC)
5. Develop messaging to show why renewable energy credits and the GO2 instrument provide value for businesses and the environment (BEC)