Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Country Survey

Corporate Sourcing of Renewables – Country Survey Trends and Enabling Frameworks for Corporate Sourcing of Renewable Energies - Guidelines

Background More and more companies are making commitments to power their operations with renewable energy. The uptake in corporate commitments across multiple markets provides a crucial message to governments and to other companies about the growing demand for increasingly cost-competitive renewable energy. This will drive further cost reductions and deployment and help countries reach and increase their renewable energy targets. Recognising this potential, the Seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7), held in San Francisco in May 2016, launched the Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Campaign. The main objective of the Campaign, co-led by Germany and Denmark, and other participating CEM members including China, the European Commission, Mexico, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is to drive a significant increase of corporate sourcing of renewable energy. The governments are joined by several partners in this collaborative effort, including the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Under the CEM Campaign and in line with its Work Programme 2016-2017, IRENA will create a central repository on trends and enabling frameworks for Corporate Sourcing of Renewables that will feed into the IRENA REmade Index report. To support the report, IRENA, in partnership with the CEM members, have developed the following country survey structure. To accurately capture global trends and provide the most value in sharing best practices, countries are encouraged to provide as much detailed information as possible. Countries will be able to indicate in the disclaimer of this survey, if they consent to sharing the survey results publically and outside of IRENA. The timeline is as follows:  November 1-2, 2016: Launch of the survey at IRENA 12th Meeting of the Council.  28 February, 2017: Deadline for submitting survey to IRENA Secretariat.  May, 2017: Presentation of preliminary findings at IRENA 13th Meeting of the Council.  June, 2017: Presentation of survey findings at CEM8 in China. We kindly ask you to fill in the survey through this attached document and submit it to the IRENA Secretariat at [email protected]. Definitions and Introduction to Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Corporate sourcing of renewable energy refers to: “A company purchasing renewable energy to power and supply its own operations (e.g. sourcing renewable energy to supply energy for offices, factories, vehicle fleets, supply chain, etc.)”. Various sourcing methods can be considered under the corporate sourcing of renewables concept, for example:

- a company making a direct investment in a renewable energy system (on-site or off-site); - a company signing a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a utility or a third party; - a company purchasing green/renewable electricity offered by a utility; - a company purchasing green/renewable electricity certificates (REC’s) on a virtual market. Survey Structure and Questions

Text, graphics, document attachments, links, and other materials and resources are all acceptable.

Section 1: National Trends for Corporate Sourcing of Renewable Energy

Question 1. Do companies in your country voluntarily seek to source renewable energy? ☐ Non-existent ☐ Increasing ☐ Decreasing Please elaborate:

Question 2. Which sectors are (particularly) interested in sourcing renewable energy in your country? ☐ None ☐ Agricultural ☐ Communications & Digital Industry ☐ Construction ☐ Finance ☐ Manufacturing ☐ Mining ☐ Retail ☐ Transport ☐ Wholesale ☐ Others Please elaborate:

Question 3. What are the main drivers for companies in your country purchasing renewable energy? ☐ Secure electricity supply

☐ Secure long-term price stability ☐ Electricity bill savings ☐ Branding reasons ☐ Corporate sustainability and environmental concerns ☐ Others Please elaborate:

Questions 4. Which type of corporate sourcing of renewable energy is the most common in your country? ☐ Green/renewable energy procurement from utility ☐ Green/renewable electricity certificates (REC’s) virtual market ☐ Direct investment (on-site or off-site) ☐ Power purchase agreement (PPA) with the utility or a third party producer Please elaborate (and prioritise which type of sourcing is the most relevant in your country):

Question 5. Does your country allow for third party sales1 of electricity? ☐ Yes ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 6. Does your country allow companies to generate renewable electricity for self-consumption and feed excess electricity to the grid? ☐ Yes (If yes, please provide details) ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 7. Does your country provide regulated grid access details with priority access for renewables?

1 The term “third party sales” refers to the possibility of generating companies to sell electricity directly to an off-taker, without going through the utility. Utilities have traditionally been single-buyer of electricity, however, third party sales makes it possibly to surpass the utility.

☐ Yes ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 8. Does your country allow companies to wheel electricity from off-site generation of renewable energy? ☐ Yes (If yes, please provide details on wheeling regulations) ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 9. If possible, list renewable energy sourcing commitments made by companies in your country. Please, refer to any initiatives and coalitions (e.g. RE100, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA)) gathering companies that commit to purchasing renewable energy in your country.

Section 2: Strategy, programmes and policies to support Corporate Sourcing of Renewable Energy

Question 10. Does your government refer to corporate sourcing of renewable energy in its renewable energy strategies, policies or regulations? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Question 11. (If Q10 answer was Yes). Describe the overall strategy/policy/regulation on corporate sourcing of renewable energy and if this applies only to electricity. If available, reference website or attach documentation.

Question 12. (If Q10 answer was Yes). How is the strategy/policy/regulation on corporate sourcing of renewable energy being implemented today? Are corporate sourcing instruments additional to regulatory mandates/targets in the country? If possible, please elaborate on the framework programmes and describe your country implementation at national and sub-national levels. (This could include: pilot programmes, policy and regulatory reform processes, public-private assistance efforts, etc.).

Question 13. In your country, does an issuing body for Guarantee of Origin2 certificates for renewable electricity exist? ☐ Yes ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 14. Does your country have a renewables certificate (REC’s/Guarantee of Origin) market? ☐ Yes, voluntary ☐ Yes, mandatory (If mandatory, please provide details on quota obliged buyer) ☐ No

Please elaborate:

Question 15. Does your country have any reporting, requirements or standards for corporate renewable energy use? ☐ Yes, mandatory ☐ Yes, voluntary

2 A Guarantee of Origin (GO, GoO or GoOs) is a third party verified certification that guarantees that a certain amount of electricity (usually 1 MWh) has been produced from renewable energy sources. Once a Guarantee of origin “certificate” has been sold to a customer/off-taker, it is being cancelled and taken out of the system.

☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 16. Are there any renewable energy labelling schemes in your country? ☐ Yes ☐ No Please elaborate:

Question 17. In your country, what has been the most helpful policy (or policies) to advance corporate sourcing of renewables?

Section 3: Data

Question 18. Is there any data available in your country on the amount of MWs installed as a result of corporate sourcing of renewable energy? ☐ Yes ☐ No

If available, please provide: total capacity (MW); breakdown per technology; name of corporate off-taker (if permissible); type of sourcing (as referenced in Section 1, Q4); breakdown by year of procurement.

Section 4: Regulatory and Technical Barriers

Question 19. In your country, what are the regulatory, technical or other barriers that you are aware of for corporate sourcing of renewable energy?

Section 5: Best Practices, Case Studies and Lessons Learned

Question 20. Please provide best practices and case studies, if available. Please also list major and/or recent announcements in your country for corporate sourcing of renewables. Information can be provided as a .PDF or .DOC or via URL to externally hosted document on official websites.

If pertinent, please elaborate on main lessons learned for corporate sourcing of renewable energy:

Section 6: Confidentiality of Survey Results

Question 21. The information your country shared in this survey will feed into IRENA’s analysis and the REmade Index report. As part of the ongoing global efforts to promote and provide more information on corporate sourcing of renewables, several other organisations are also planning corporate sourcing activities. Can your survey results be shared with other organisations and entities (e.g. RE100, WBCSD, WRI, etc.)? ☐ Yes ☐ No