Sales to residential customers decreased roughly 8% from 2023. At the same time, sales to non-residential customers increased by 15%, accounting for the vast majority of certified MWh purchased, at nearly 140 million MWh, representing 96% of retail volume certified. Although there are significantly more residential customers than commercial customers that purchase Green‑e^® Energy certified renewable energy, they tend to purchase smaller amounts than non-residential customers. Output from facilities dedicated to specific corporate entities through either PPA or VPPA contracts is responsible for much of the non-residential growth. MWh sold in certified wholesale transactions came in at over 15 million MWh in 2024.

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

In 2024, there was a 7.6% decrease in the overall number of customers purchasing certified retail options. The number of consumers buying unbundled RECs, PPAs, and VPPAs increased by about 15% to 208,000 customers. The number of customers enrolled in a certified green pricing option decreased by 11%. The number of customers enrolled in a certified CCA program decreased by 17% to approximately 26,000, while competitive electricity buyers decreased by 18% to approximately 20,000 customers. The decrease in customer numbers for bundled electricity products (green pricing, CCA, and competitive electricity) can be partially attributed to certain California electricity providers decertifying their residential products. The increase in certified retail sales, coupled with the slight decrease in customer numbers, suggests large non-residential customers are continuing to drive growth in Green‑e^® sales.

Note: The “RECS, PPAs, and VPPAs” category includes all certified REC transactions, including RECs that are part of PPA and VPPA deals, and only CCA customers that actively opt into certified programs in these totals are counted, not all CCA customers.

A diverse group of customers purchased Green‑e^® certified products in 2024, representing broad market acceptance of the value of the Green‑e^® program. The contribution of Technology companies has decreased from 41.2% to 28.5% between 2017 and 2024; while their total MWhs purchased has more than doubled, this illustrates greater diversity across other large purchaser sectors. Namely, Manufacturing & Supply Chain has grown from 4.8% in 2017 to 16.6% in 2024, signaling a business focus on supply chain and Scope 3 emission reductions. Purchasers in the Other category (transportation, insurance, universities, entertainment, athletics, and more) grew from 5.4% in 2017 to 7.4% in 2024, while the MWhs purchased in the Other category increased more than fourfold.

Many customers throughout the U.S. have the option to purchase Green‑e^® Energy certified renewable electricity through their local utility or electric service provider. In 2024, bundled certified renewable electricity options were available in 35 states and Washington, D.C. RECs unbundled from electricity are available to buyers across Canada and the U.S. Businesses purchasing large MWh volumes tend to purchase unbundled RECs, often from multiple locations, while residential customers and businesses purchasing smaller volumes tend to enroll in a bundled electricity option available through their utility or electric service provider.

Green‑e^® Energy also certified sales in Chile, Singapore, and Taiwan R.O.C.

In 2024, Green‑e^® Energy sales sourced from a range of renewable generation across the United States and Canada. The resource mix of the voluntary market is very wind heavy, with wind facilities accounting for 76% of the total MWh of supply.  Eight years ago, solar contributed only 250,000 MWh to certified sales, while in 2024 solar provided 34 million MWh. The other resources remained relatively consistent compared to 2022 data.

The growth of solar over the past nine years has been staggering. Removing wind from the equation for display purposes, this chart demonstrates how rapid that growth has been in terms of certified MWh, while other resource types have remained steady or decreased.

Over 1,400 unique generation facilities with a total capacity of nearly 100 GW supplied Green‑e^® Energy certified products in 2024. The number of solar facilities used to supply Green‑e^® Energy certified products continues to grow rapidly, reaching more than 900 unique facilities, representing over half of all facilities used to supply certified sales. 2024 also saw the continued trend of growth in an already impressive cohort of wind resources supplying certified sales. Wind comprises the vast majority of total capacity of facilities supplying certified sales, with approximately three times more capacity than all other resources combined, as shown in the next chart.

In 2024, over 25% of all facilities were small-scale solar (less than 2 MW), these facilities represent a small but growing contribution of all MWhs used in Green‑e^® Energy, demonstrating a growing contribution of distributed energy in the voluntary market. Solar facilities greater than 50 MW in capacity represented more than 15% of the capacity in 2024.

Only new renewables are eligible to meet the criteria in the Standard. In North America. Eligible renewable facilities must have started operation or have been deemed repowered in the last 15 calendar years, or otherwise been approved for extended use in order to provide generation to a Green‑e^® Energy certified product. In 2024, nearly 50% of the MWh used to supply certified sales came from facilities that were five years old or less. This shows a continued trend of more newly built generators being used to supply the voluntary market.

In 2024 more than 50% of the MW of capacity used to supply certified sales came from facilities that were five years old or less, demonstrating consistent turnover of older facilities and how generation from many newly built facilities is being used for voluntary purposes.

Newer facilities accounted for a large portion of certified sales in 2024. Facilities five years or younger comprised over 40% of all facilities that provided any amount of MWh to Green‑e^® Energy certified sales. This again illustrates how the voluntary market can drive new build. Large corporate buyers’ preference for procurement from new build, including pre-construction procurement, is an important driver of this trend.

The total volume of all Green‑e^® Energy certified transactions in 2024 reached nearly 160 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 143 million MWh, while certified wholesale transactions reached nearly 16 million MWh in 2024. Of these certified wholesale transactions, roughly three million MWh were resold in certified retail transactions.

The remaining 13 million MWh were sold in non–certified transactions to utilities, electric service providers, power marketers, and other buyers in the voluntary market. Removing the instances of renewable MWh certified by Green‑e^® Energy at both the wholesale and retail levels, certified sales of 156 million unique MWh were made in 2024, 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.