300 companies chart path for CO2-free energy technology – E&E News

More than a decade ago, a host of U.S. companies helped drive down wind and solar energy costs through voluntary energy purchases, a trend that’s reshaped the nation’s power sector.

Now, a coalition of nearly 300 major corporations and institutions is urging those same companies to give similar treatment to much-needed next-generation clean energy technologies like long-term batteries, hydropower and geothermal energy.

“We don’t just want solar. We don’t just want wind,” said Caroline Golin, Google’s global lead for energy policy and market development. “We want you to come to us with a full stack of carbon-free energy. How the technologies work is really going to be up to the supplier.”

Google is part of the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA), which along with White House officials and the Clean Air Task Force is endorsing what they called a pivotal shift in voluntary corporate energy purchases on a webinar this month.

Without upfront backing from companies and government agencies, the higher costs of nascent clean energy options risk delaying or defeating their widespread availability a decade or more from now, according to a new Google-funded study by Princeton University researchers that was reviewed at the webinar.

The alliance, whose members also include Microsoft Corp., Walmart Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and General Motors Co., is specifically seeking to channel financial support to clean energy options such as long-term batteries, geothermal energy, hydrogen fuels, hydropower installations on existing dams, CO2 capture from gas-fired power plants and new nuclear reactor projects to help jump-start these technologies.

“If proactive investment in advanced technologies is not made soon, it is highly likely that these resources will not be prepared to scale when needed to ensure reliability and affordability and reach 100% carbon-free grids,” the report concluded.

According to studies by Princeton researchers and other analysts, a huge ramp-up in wind and solar power and infrastructure in this decade could bring the share of clean power in the U.S. to roughly 70 percent. Although details are debated, going beyond that level, while ensuring grid reliability during extreme weather events, will require backup by “firm” zero-carbon power sources that are available when needed around the clock, these studies report (Energywire, Sept. 20).

CEBA, which was formed as the Renewable Energy Buyers Association, renamed itself as a “clean energy” organization this month to reflect the expanded strategy.

U.S. companies were early buyers of wind and large-scale solar power when those sources were considered costly and risky, CEBA Chief Executive Miranda Ballentine said. Over the past 15 years, business and industry have been catalysts for …….

Source: https://www.eenews.net/articles/300-companies-chart-path-for-co2-free-energy-technology/