RE100 Makes Important Changes In Technical Criteria

• RE100 has updated its technical criteria to accelerate corporate impact to clean energy transition
• It now defines single market for renewable electricity in Europe as one that exists in the EU, is a member of AIB and has a grid connection to another country meeting these rules
• Members need to purchase renewable electricity from new projects or from those that have a 15-year commissioning or re-powering date limit
• It will boost RE100 members' ability to demand new renewable electricity from governments and lower barriers to renewable energy procurement

Global corporate renewable energy initiative for businesses, RE100 has updated its technical criteria offering clearer guidance on credible procurement in Europe and requires 15-year commissioning or re-powering date limit for renewable energy procurement.

As per the new parameters announced, RE100 said it is changing its definition of single market for renewable electricity in Europe to one that:

• exists in the European Union (EU) single market
• is a member of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB)-issuing European Energy Certificate System (EECS) Guarantees of Origin
• has a grid connection to another country meeting the above 2 rules.

It believes this will 'strengthen claims to use of renewable electricity made there'. A few countries that have little domestic energy production and import most of their electricity from neighboring nations, are exempted from this list.

RE100 considers electricity generated from wind, solar, geothermal, sustainably sources biomass, including biogas, and sustainable hydro power as renewable electricity. It excludes hydrogen from the list since it is 'not an energy resource' but an energy carrier that's manufactured.

The other significant change is for RE100 members to purchase renewable electricity from new projects or from those that observe a 15-year commissioning or re-powering date limit.

"RE100 has made this change to directly increase its members' demand for new renewable electricity capacity, and to signal to any company using the RE100 technical criteria that supporting new projects is central to the energy transition," explained Senior Manager Renewable Energy, CDP, Andrew Glumac.

For its members, this enhances the credibility of RE100 member claims by bringing the technical criteria in line with best practice in key markets. Companies will also be pressure governments to add renewable electricity capacity and lower barriers to voluntary procurement.

A 15-year commissioning or re-powering date limit also puts pressure on energy suppliers to become more transparent about their products since in the current arrangement it is difficult to ascertain how old the projects in the supply are.

RE100 updates its technical criteria every 2 years to ensure these remain relevant to changing times and ensure these accelerate the change towards carbon-free grids by 2040.

Regarding the criteria update, Executive Director of Systems Change, Climate Group, Mile Peirce said, "They give members leverage with internal and external stakeholders to demand new renewables capacity. This ultimately drives grid transformation and increases the price competitiveness of renewables."

Updates to the technical guidance can be read in detail on RE100's website.

RE100 members commit to sourcing 100% renewable electricity for their businesses. As of 2021, 355 RE100 members in 25 countries had collectively signed up for 47 GW renewable energy through power purchase agreements (PPA), according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (see Over 31 GW Corporate Clean Energy PPAs In 2021). As per its website, currently RE100 counts 387 corporates as its members from across the globe.