In this week’s Solar News Roundup, read about two stories from the corporate renewables world, where massive companies are signing deals for solar energy developments at a record pace.
2018 was the best year for corporate solar by a wide margin
The Business Renewables Center at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) recently released a report on corporate renewable energy growth, and the data suggests that 2018 was the best year in terms of corporate solar deal volume. What’s more, the volume of corporate solar deals signed in 2018 is larger than all other years combined. The year saw corporations sign deals procuring 2.8 gigawatts (GW) total of solar energy.
Tech giants like Facebook and AT&T were at the forefront of solar procurement, with 1.85 GW and 820 MW of solar deals signed respectively. Also near the top of the list of corporations going solar were Walmart, Microsoft, Apple, and ExxonMobil. Google, a perennial leader in renewable procurement, was further down the list this year, perhaps because they have already offset all electricity usage with renewable energy.
Looking forward, expect even more growth in corporate deployment of renewables and solar energy. The CEO of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), Miranda Ballentine, says to expect a 4X increase in corporate renewable procurement by 2025.
Budweiser in the United Kingdom will be powered with solar by 2020
As part of Anheuser-Busch’s 100% renewable pledge by 2025, the company will brew all Budweiser produced in the U.K. with solar energy by 2020. Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer, makes 17 million cans and bottles of Budweiser in the country per week, and the deal is set to be the largest unsubsidized solar agreement in the UK ever.
Anheuser-Busch already brews all Budweiser in the United States with 100% renewable energy, mostly from the Thunder Ranch wind farm in Oklahoma, a 298 megawatt (MW) wind plant. The company signed the development deal with Lightsource BP, a renewable power developer, who will develop and operate 100 MW of solar to cover the electricity use for Budweiser breweries in the U.K. By converting to 100% renewable energy by 2025, Anheuser-Busch will reduce their global carbon footprint by 30 percent.
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