Two Texas solar plants serve four buyers through energy attribute certificates

Four corporate buyers acquired 172 MW of purchaser-caused energy attribute certificates (PC EACs) through a new aggregated procurement via Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. (SRI)’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB).  

EACs are power purchase agreements that guarantee that every megawatt-hour of electricity used is paired with new renewable energy generation. Corporations enter into EACs to satisfy sustainability or net-zero goals.

The contract includes six virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) by Cisco, Biogen Inc., IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. and Waters Corporation. The PC EACs will be procured from Star Dairy and Rosebud, two forthcoming Texas solar plants that will be developed by X-ELIO. 

“Our ‘VPPA 2.0’ optimizes process and transaction structures in a way that manages risk to the corporate buyer very meaningfully and fundamentally,” Jim Boyle, SRI’s co-founder and CEO, told pv magazine USA. He noted SRI has spent seven years developing and proving the model. 

“See what’s worked in the past; look at what Jigar Shar did with PPAs for residential solar,” he said. “That’s an example of a new transaction structure unlocking a national and then global industry.” 

Boyle thinks the VPPA 2.0 approach is what’s made NZCB the leading buyer-only platform for aggregated utility-scale renewable energy procurement in the U.S. and Europe. 

The confidential buyer community uses a “reverse auction” approach that offers transparency to NZCB’s high-credit buyers and blindness to sellers.  

“We commoditize the aggregated buying requirement prior to the bid,” Boyle said. NZCB then shares a detailed tender developed for the specific aggregation to the winning bid.  

That way, each company bid can be compared like apples to apples instead of what Boyle calls an “apples-to-oranges-to-peaches” comparison. This speeds up the process, as it’s easier to determine which offers are the most compelling when there’s a standardized format.  

“Each of the buyers [in this agreement] have bought with us before in another aggregated procurement,” Boyle noted. He chalks up the repeat buyers to two main factors: great customer service and PC EACs that actually get new renewable energy online by committing to at least 40 MW over at least 10 years.  

“As an advisor, we advise that you get what you pay for,” he said. If you pay 50 cents for a renewable energy credit (REC), that’s what it’s worth, he explained. It’s “not like you made out like a bandit.” 

“You got yourself a very inexpensive REC and you’ve made a very unimpressive contribution to the change we need,” he said. “But if you make a $50 commitment for 15 years, that’s a major corporate commitment.” 

Boyle also highlighted the value in a consortium like NZCB, comparing it to Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. Hyperscalers, he noted, made it difficult for most companies (even those with multi-billion-dollar revenue streams) to access the utility-scale renewable energy market.  

Aggregation can change the tide.  

“We’ve managed the complexity in a way that makes simple and sound sense and enables clients to access that market,” Boyle said. “Companies get the economies of scale that give them negotiating power, the economies of intellect to know what they should be doing and the economies of purpose where they organize around the fact that everyone wants the same outcome and wants to help their enterprise succeed on a multiple bottom-line basis.” 

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