This year was one marked by substantial growth for Center for Resource Solutions as we worked with partners around the world to help establish and expand market access for renewable energy.
We expanded the reach of our certification programs, and helped policymakers at the state and local levels make informed decisions about rules and regulations that impact clean energy policy. We met with hundreds of electricity providers, corporate sustainability officers, government officials, and regulators who are guiding the future for renewable energy.
We connected with local officials in a dozen countries who are looking to replicate our success at home. We wrote dozens of public comments, industry reports, and blog posts, and gave presentations and webinars to hundreds of attendees.
And through it all, we recommitted ourselves to CRS’s mission of advancing sustainable energy. Thank you for your partnership throughout the year. We look forward to the great progress the coming year will bring.
On the Road
CRS staff attended and spoke at over a dozen conferences, from San Francisco to Amsterdam, including:
- ACORE Renewable Energy Grid Forum, San Francisco
- American Gas Association Sustainability Committee, Hollywood, FL
- Asia Clean Energy Summit, Singapore
- Blockchain Expo North America, Santa Clara
- Chile Renewable Energy Congress (CIREC Week), Santiago, Chile
- Climate Leadership Conference, Denver, CO
- Community Choice Energy Summit, San Francisco
- Designing the Aspects of an Emissions Trade System in Mexico (Seminario sobre Aspectos Técnicos del Sistema de Comercio de Emisiones en México), Mexico City, Mexico
- EUCI Renewable Energy Credit Market Dynamics & Trading, Boston, MA
- GTM Blockchain in the Energy Sector, San Francisco
- Houston Renewable Energy Network, Houston, TX
- International Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificate Forum, Taipei, Taiwan
- National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) National Energy Restructuring Conference, Washington, D.C.
- RECS Market Meeting 2018 (IREC), Amsterdam
- Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) Summit, Oakland
- Solar Power International, Anaheim
Green-e
Our Green-e certification program reported at the end of 2018 that it certified over 60 million megawatt-hours in retail transactions in 2017, representing an overall increase of 24% compared to 2016 sales. This is the highest number of certified retail MWh to date, and enough to power over half of U.S. households for a month. Solar generation also saw a massive increase of 800% from just the year prior.
Green-e also began two new international standards, releasing a new regional standard for Singapore and a comment period for the upcoming Green-e Renewable Energy Standard for Chile.
Publications
CRS published nearly two dozen reports, comments, blog posts, and newsletters, on topics from greenhouse gas reporting, to cap and trade rules, to community solar claims issues.
International Market Development
We’ve been actively working with local stakeholders in Asia and Latin America—including county and state governments, electric utilities, and large corporations with co-located facilities—to help establish voluntary renewable energy and carbon markets and the infrastructure necessary to support them. We’re excited by the progress we’ve made, and the opportunity we have to apply the lessons we’ve learned over the last two decades in the North American market.
State Policy
Our policy staff engaged throughout 2018 on issues related to state-level regulations, including greenhouse gas reporting, cap and trade design, power source disclosure, double counting, renewable energy certificate claims, and more. Ensuring that the integrity of renewable energy ownership and claims is enshrined in rulemaking remains a priority, so that clean energy purchases have full environmental value, and continue to act as drivers of new renewable development.
Educational Events
There are few industries moving faster and with more complexity than electricity markets, which is why one of our core priorities continues to be offering educational content that helps illuminate and explain the how and why of renewable energy. The main way we do this is through our annual Renewable Energy Markets conference, which was held this year in Houston, TX. We also hold regular free educational webinars, and update our website with educational resources that can help policymakers, regulators, sustainability professionals, corporate energy managers, and the interested public make sense of these fast-moving, complex topics.
