In 2019, Green-e® Energy certified retail sales totaled 68,973,000 MWh, an overall increase of 11% compared to 2018 sales. Green-e® Energy certified sales have increased at an average rate of 12% per year over the past four years. REC sales, either in the form of standalone RECs or in a power purchase agreement or virtual power purchase agreement, continue to drive the majority of certified sales and grew by 9% in 2019. Certified sales through green pricing programs offered by regulated utilities grew by 4% compared to 2018, while customers in regulated markets purchasing through a CCA purchased 168% more MWh than in 2018, primarily due to a major CCA in California joining the Green-e® program, as well as the general growth we’ve seen in CCA programs for the past couple of years. Total certified competitive electricity sales grew by 13%, mostly due to a few one-time large commercial purchases. Direct and Onsite certified MWh dropped slightly from 2018, from 1.1 million to 1.04 million certified MWh.

Note: The “RECS, PPAs, and VPPAs” category includes all certified REC transactions, including RECs that are part of PPA and VPPA deals.

Sales by customer type grew about 9% from 2018 for residential customers and 11% for non-residential customers, with the latter accounting for the vast majority of certified MWh purchased at more than 62.4 million MWh. MWh sold as certified wholesale transactions increased by 47% from 2018, and residential sales reached more than 6.5 million MWh as more utilities increasingly seek Green-e® Energy certified green pricing options for their customer and more communities launch their own CCAs. Although there are significantly more residential customers that purchase Green-e® Energy certified renewable energy, they tend to purchase smaller amounts than non-residential customers.

2019 saw by far the largest amount of total retail customers purchasing certified products with an overall increase of 30% compared to 2018. The number of customers enrolled in a certified green pricing option has shown steady growth over the last couple of years, while the number of customers enrolled in a certified CCA offering increased by 259% from 2018 to a total of 456,000 customers, mainly due to a few large CCAs joining the Green-e® certified program. We also saw surprising growth in the amount of competitive electricity customers, which doubled from 2018 to 2019, primarily due to the expansion of certified competitive electricity programs in the Northeast

Note: The “RECS, PPAs, and VPPAs” category includes all certified REC transactions, including RECs that are part of PPA and VPPA deals.

States With Green‑e^® Energy Certified Renewable Electricity Options

Many customers throughout the U.S. have the option to purchase Green-e® Energy certified renewable energy through their local utility or electric service provider. In 2019, bundled certified renewable electricity options were available in 34 states and Washington, DC.

RECs unbundled from electricity are available to buyers regardless of location. Businesses purchasing large MWh volumes tend to purchase unbundled RECs, often from multiple locations, while residential customers and businesses purchasing smaller volumes tend to purchase a bundled electricity product available through their utility or electric service provider.

2019, Green-e® Energy sales came from a range of resources across the United States and Canada. The resource mix of the voluntary market continues to be wind-dominated in 2019 with wind facilities accounting for 84% of the total supply. Output from almost half of installed wind facilities in the U.S. is sold in Green-e® Energy certified transactions, based on total capacity.  Just 3 years ago, solar made up less than 1% of supply in certified sales. Solar energy consumption has grown exponentially the past couple of years and increased its share of the market by 63% from 2018 to 2019, almost 23 times bigger than in 2016. Solar now represents nearly 9% of the overall mix. Non-gaseous biomass is 5% of the overall mix, while gaseous biomass, hydro, and geothermal are all 1% or less.

1,136 unique generation facilities with a total capacity of over 70,000 MW supplied Green-e® Energy certified products in 2019. The number of solar facilities used to supply Green-e® Energy certified products continues to grow at a fast pace. If we count rooftop solar buyback programs offered by electricity providers as 1 facility for each provider, the number of unique solar facilities utilized in 2019 reached 633 unique facilities, or nearly half of all facilities. Total solar capacity utilized grew exponentially, from 3,820 MW to almost 20,000 MW, which is a magnitude of 6 and reflects more reliance on larger, utility scale solar developments. Wind still compromises the majority of overall capacity at just over 68%. Overall, 61 more facilities were used in 2019 compared to 2018.

Only new renewables are eligible to meet Green-e® Energy standards. In North American, that means eligible renewable facilities must have started operation or have been declared repowered in the last 15 years, or otherwise been approved for extended use in order to provide generation to a Green-e® Energy certified product. In 2019, a little less than half of the MWh used to supply certified sales came from facilities that were less than 5 years old at the time. That showcases how cost effective it is to build new renewables, but also how much new build is being used for voluntary purposes.

Newer facilities also provided a large portion of generation to certified sales in 2019. Facilities 5 years or younger also made up more than 40% of all facilities that provided any amount of MWh to Green-e® Energy certified sales, which is a little bit less than 2018. This may be due to the policy outlook impacting certain states at that time – some states may have had rebate programs or tax incentives that were implemented at that time, or may have been pursuing compliance targets aggressively and, therefore, have surplus generation to contribute to the voluntary market. It may also show the preference of corporate buyers for their monetary investment to be the determining factor in getting a new generator built.

The total volume of all Green‑e® Energy certified transactions in 2019 reached more than 90 million MWh. This total represents all transactions, including both certified retail sales to electricity end users looking to make a green power use claim, and wholesale sales to resellers of renewable MWh that did not claim the renewable electricity or RECs themselves. Green-e® Energy certified retail transactions reached almost 69 million MWh while certified wholesale transactions exceeded 21.2 million MWh in 2019. Of these certified wholesale transactions, around 8.5 million MWh were resold in certified retail transactions. The remaining 12.7 million MWh were sold in non–certified transactions to utilities, electric service providers, power marketers, and other buyers in the voluntary market, a 40% increase from the 9 million MWh sold in non-certified transactions in 2018.

Removing the instances of renewable MWh certified by Green-e® Energy at both the wholesale and retail levels, certified sales of over 81.6 million unique MWh were made in 2019, an increase of almost 15% from 2018 and the highest total of certified unique MWh to date

Note: The “RECS, PPAs, and VPPAs” category includes all certified REC transactions, including RECs that are part of PPA and VPPA deals.