Energy Web Awarded Good Energies Foundation Grant for New Global Renewables Marketplace
Zug, Switzerland — 15 December 2020 — Today, Energy Web announced that the Good Energies Foundation has awarded a grant to commercialize EW Zero, a digital, open-source, global market hub for renewable energy. EW Zero provides a single digital entry point for renewable energy buyers — from multinational corporations to small- and medium-sized enterprises — to discover and purchase renewable energy that meets their financial, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility requirements.
Such search/find/procure functionality is already ubiquitous online for air travel, hotels, and tour bookings. But it is almost non-existent for renewable energy procurement. There is no digital, global solution available today to buy or sell renewables directly online, making modern-day renewable energy procurement akin to the travel industry pre-Internet, with travel agents acting as gatekeepers (much like brokers and consultants act today in renewable energy markets). Energy Web intends for EW Zero to usher in a new era of renewable energy procurement.
Energy Web first unveiled EW Zero in September 2020 in a joint announcement with Ripple to decarbonize the XRP Ledger, the world’s third-largest blockchain network by cryptocurrency market cap. The Good Energies grant will enable Energy Web to bring EW Zero to market over the next year by commercializing the software and releasing tools that enable suppliers (e.g., renewable energy developers, owners, and operators) to post renewables for sale on EW Zero. Such integration protocols will enable companies to connect commercial renewable energy platforms — including but not limited to the various marketplace platforms built over the past two years with various Energy Web member organizations such as PTT, Foton, and Mercados Eléctricos — to ensure sufficient renewable supply is made available for buyers.
“Even in today’s day and age with major renewable energy commitments popping up left and right, it remains surprisingly difficult for small to medium enterprises and governments to purchase renewables,” explained Jesse Morris, chief commercial officer of Energy Web. “The Good Energies grant is a testament to the promise of open-source technologies to help solve market challenges. This funding makes it possible for EW Zero to connect local renewables marketplaces together in a single digital hub, much like Google Flights or Skyscanner does for air travel, and make it easier for renewable energy buyers to achieve their specific goals for renewables procurement.”
Renewable energy markets and underlying energy attribute certificate (EAC) markets are fragmented, with 30+ tracking systems for guarantees of origin (GOs) in Europe, 10+ tracking systems for renewable energy certificates (RECs) in the United States, 1 overarching tracking system for International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs) in 35+ developed countries, and several independent national tracking systems. There are also emerging standards to support new projects in off-grid contexts and conflict zones that EW plans for EW Zero to support. One example includes the recently announced “Peace-REC” (P-REC) standard — also funded by the Good Energies Foundation — which was applied to a first-of-its-kind transaction between Microsoft and renewables sourced from emerging and fragile economies, in this case the Democratic Republic of Congo.
These standards and markets often depend on outdated technology and analog processes, which add cost and complexity, third-party dependencies, and overall market opacity that makes it difficult for buyers to find available options. EW Zero will help solve these various market pain points by streamlining the EAC lifecycle and providing buyers an integrated, transparent discovery platform for their renewables procurement. Initially, EW Zero is focused on renewable electricity procurement using EACs. Over time, EW Zero’s development will evolve to support bundled electricity products (e.g., power purchase agreements) and transactions of other forms of renewables including but not limited to green hydrogen, green gas, and a new generation of carbon offsets.
“Our Foundation focuses on two levers to reverse climate change: clean energy and healthy forests,” said Stephanie Jones, Programme Manager at Good Energies. “We are excited to support Energy Web for a project with transformational potential for global renewable energy markets. We hope our grant for EW Zero will help scale investments in new renewable energy projects, particularly in developing countries, by reducing market friction and streamlining I-REC and other energy attribute certificate transactions between buyers and sellers to expand clean energy access to more communities across the globe.”
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), RE-Source Platform, International REC Standard Foundation, and EKOenergy have all agreed to serve as EW Zero Advisors to provide input that guides Energy Web’s development of EW Zero over the next year.
About Energy Web
Energy Web is a global, member-driven nonprofit accelerating a low-carbon, customer-centric electricity system by unleashing the potential of decentralized, digital technologies. EW focuses on our open-source technology stack — the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) — to enable any device, owned by any customer, to participate in any energy market.
EW launched the Energy Web Chain, the world’s first enterprise-grade, public blockchain tailored to the energy sector and the anchor of the EW-DOS tech stack. EW has also fostered the world’s largest enterprise ecosystem focused on open-source, decentralized, digital technologies. They comprise utilities, grid operators, renewable energy developers, corporate energy buyers, IoT / telecom leaders, and others.
For more, please visit https://energyweb.org.
About Good Energies Foundation
Good Energies Foundation is a Swiss-based private foundation. It was established in 2007 as an integral part of Good Energies Inc., a private equity company specialised in investing in the renewable energy and energy-efficiency industries. Good Energies works in partnership with Porticus, the international organisation that manages and develops the philanthropic programmes of charitable entities established by Brenninkmeijer family entrepreneurs.
CONTACT
Peter Bronski, Energy Web
+1.201.575.5545 | peter.bronski@energyweb.org
