Tech Company ‘Salesforce’ to Purchase 280,000 MWh Renewable Energy

Salesforce, a technology company based in the United States, announced that it would be purchasing 280,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy certificates from small, distributed energy projects in order to speed up the availability of clean electricity in developing nations.

Distributed renewable energy certificates (D-RECs), a financial instrument that enables organizations to deploy capital for small-scale, distributed clean energy initiatives, will be used to coordinate the projects, the company stated in a statement. Powertrust, a renewables aggregator, will use D-RECs to coordinate the projects. It added that the funding will be used to support projects for the next eight years.

High-impact projects in Brazil, India, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia will benefit from the purchased distributed renewable energy certificates (D-RECs). The company noted that these have been largely excluded from corporate purchasing of renewable energy.

Small-scale energy projects like minigrids can be a means of ensuring access to affordable, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy. They use renewable energy to boost inclusive and long-term economic expansion.

Sanket Atal, Managing Director, Operations and Site Lead for Technology, Marketing, Product, Salesforce India, said that this initiative is a step in the right direction, strengthening Salesforce’s commitment to net zero.

Salesforce pointed out that for a variety of reasons, including difficulties aggregating and certifying multiple small-scale projects, emerging nations have been largely excluded from corporate purchasing.

At the moment, North America and Europe account for nearly 95 percent of corporate purchases of renewable energy. Megan Lorenzen, Salesforce’s lead on the power sector decarbonization, said that they need to make sure the rest of the world is not left behind.