Cleartrace

🌎 Event Recap: From Contracts to Carbon – Global Insights on Efficient REC Allocation Our session at #VERGE24, "From Contracts to Carbon: Efficient REC Allocation for Suppliers and Offtakers", led by Cleartrace's VP of Sustainability, Nicole Sullivan, brought together a diverse group of global leaders across energy procurement, corporate sustainability, carbon accounting, and power origination roles. Attendees from leading organizations, including energy suppliers (retail energy providers, project developers, and utilities), corporate offtakers, and service providers, shared perspectives and best practices on navigating the complex Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) landscape. Here’s a recap of the insights from these impactful roundtable discussions: 🔹 Challenges and Opportunities in Global REC Allocation: Energy buyers across LATAM, APAC, and North America recognize the challenges of meeting renewable energy targets within diverse regulatory environments while navigating market headwinds. Regional variations add complexity, such as utilities in Taiwan handling emissions tracking or US utilities in regulated markets receiving requests for REC allocation for Scope 3 emissions for customers in consumer products, all while balancing local and global carbon reduction goals. 🔹 Technology & Verification Needs: Tracking precision and verification practices varied, from 5-minute interval data collection to registry-based attestation. The group discussed frameworks like Green-e and market-based tracking tools, highlighting needs for data granularity and accuracy as emerging standards evolve. Most companies still rely on spreadsheets, facing challenges around data collection and data management, especially in meeting advanced commitments such as #RE100. 🔹 Emerging Market Trends in Procurement: Discussions covered market changes such as unbundled REC sales for large tech clients, PPA preferences over unbundled RECs for impact, and renewable procurement shifts for corporate buyers. Many seek to optimize REC impact despite spot-market volatility, and companies are exploring advanced emissions tracking to enhance carbon data and accountability both for their own entity and throughout their value chain. 🔹 Corporate Targets and Supplier Collaboration: Attendees shared diverse strategies, from a financial services firm’s 100% renewable goal to a pharmaceutical company’s RE100 commitment and a Fortune 100 retailer’s supply chain renewable plans. Corporate offtakers underscored collaboration with suppliers as key to aligning on renewable procurement, with contract terms playing an important role in data gathering. The wide variety of engaged attendees illustrated the increasing need to advance REC allocation effectiveness in an evolving regulatory and technological landscape. Thanks to all who joined and shared perspectives on enhancing accurate carbon impact and transparency! #utilityinsights #cleanenergy #renewables #netzero #EACs #energytransition

Cleartrace is a Silver Sponsor of the WSPP Fall Meeting, hosted by National Renewable Solutions, in Santa Fe New Mexico from October 28-30! ⚡ Join our Sr. Sales Director, Jason Busch, for a few days of insightful discussions, knowledge sharing, and meaningful networking with key players across the energy landscape, including #utilities. We’re eager to engage in conversations that help accelerate the #energytransition and drive innovative solutions for a cleaner energy future. 🌍💡 Let’s connect and explore how we can work together to build a more efficient and sustainable energy system! #WSPPFallMeeting #CleanEnergy #EnergyInnovation #RenewableEnergy #RenewableDevelopers #UtilityInsights #Sustainability #NewMexico

🌟 Cleartrace will be at  #VERGE24, co-hosted by Trellis Group and Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), in San Jose. This year’s theme, Deploying Climate Tech at Scale, aligns perfectly with our mission to drive innovation in granular energy and carbon data for both energy suppliers and large consumers of energy. Our Chief Commercial Officer, Patrick H. Davis, and VP of Sustainability, Nicole Sullivan, will be attending, and Nicole will be hosting a conversation table on Thursday, October 31 from 9:30-11 am PST titled "From Contracts to Carbon: Efficient REC Allocation for Suppliers and Offtakers." Will you be there? We’re excited to connect with fellow innovators, energy suppliers, and other key stakeholders as we work to accelerate a #NetZero future! 🌍🔗 #Sustainability #CleanEnergy #CarbonFreeFuture #EnergyTransition #VERGE24

🌍 Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7—Affordable & Clean Energy—requires all hands on deck. Global collaboration across sectors is the key to making this a reality! 💡 We are proud to be a part of the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact which unites a worldwide community, committed to speeding up access to carbon-free energy for everyone 🔋⚡ Now is the time to get back on track and Power Up Progress! The 24/7 Carbon Free Energy Compact produced a short hype video, shedding light on the urgent need to scale clean energy solutions globally. 🔌 Supporting energy security and equity is more critical than ever—for people 🧑🏿🤝🧑🏽 and the planet 🌍. 🎥 Check out the video and join the movement: https://lnkd.in/g3u5bSqt #GoCarbonFree #SDG7 #SustainableDevelopment #247CFE #CleanEnergy

⚡💡The Renewable Energy Markets 2024 (REM) conference took place September 16th-18th in Denver, CO and featured a variety of industry professionals including corporate leaders, policymakers, energy and renewable energy certificate (#REC) brokers, and energy suppliers. The collective discussed emerging trends and innovations in the renewable energy sector with lots of networking mixed in between panels. Given the wide variety of stakeholders, there were many lively discussions, but for the Cleartrace team in attendance, Patrick H. Davis & Jason Busch, there were three big takeaways from the week: 1. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Scope 2 revisions will take a while - In what may not have been a surprise, Michael X Macrae, PhD from the World Resources Institute (WRI) was featured on a panel explaining the process and governance around the update including that it will be a two year process once commencing. Since that panel, last week during #NYCClimateWeek, the WRI announced members of the working and technical groups (see link in comments for more details). To guide the working groups and protocol updates, the WRI established three criteria (“three legged stool”) including scientific integrity and adherence to GHG standards, the need to support great climate action and use data or information to support it, and feasibility or the need to be realistic for organizations to implement. The stakes of getting this update right could not be higher, so the world is watching how this process unfolds, particularly those entities disclosing carbon emissions and tracking progress towards Scope 2 decarbonization goals. 🌍 2. Thematically, there was a collective sentiment that the lack of standards for energy tracking, green claims, and carbon accounting in various arenas makes it challenging to drive systematic change.  As an example, while there are emerging standards such as with EnergyTag on 24/7 carbon free energy (CFE) tracking, this is not universally adopted yet and certainly not yet written into what may be the next version of the Scope 2 accounting standards as described above. Another example of lack of standard was alignment on a shared definition of “impact” - it means different things across protocols and entities. This topic was a great source of debate, but many acknowledged at a minimum that a shared definition or standard would be a welcomed milestone. 3. Change is brewing! In particular, many of the utilities present were feeling pressure from a variety of angles not limited to explosive load growth (and inability to quickly meet this demand without lengthy rate cases), complexities around new, intermittent resources, increasingly more customers requesting emissions reporting and green resources to support quickly approaching #decarbonization and clean energy goals.📊 #REM2024 #WRI #UtilityInsights #CarbonAccounting #Scope2 #247CFE #RenewableEnergy #EmissionsFirst

Cleartrace is proud to be a Megawatt sponsor of the 2024 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in Denver, happening from September 16-18. Join Cleartrace’s Chief Commercial Officer, Patrick H. Davis, and Sr. Sales Director, Jason Busch, for a few days of insightful discussions, knowledge sharing, and valuable networking with key stakeholders, policymakers, and clean energy leaders driving the future of renewable energy markets and the #energytransition. Let’s connect and collaborate on building a cleaner energy future together! #RenewableEnergy #CleanEnergy #UtilityInsights

🚀 The shift towards deploying emerging clean energy resources to meet demand growth is more than a technology challenge—it requires a cultural shift for utilities. A recent Utility Dive article highlights the growing urgency to embrace innovation and adopt new playbooks. As Jigar Shah from the DOE's Loan Programs Office states, “Failing to adopt new strategies and technologies is the higher-risk path for utilities today.” 📈 Shah’s statement echoes the sentiment in the latest DOE Liftoff Report which emphasizes the need for utilities to align with increasing demand, both near-term with commercially available solutions and long-term through advanced clean energy pathways. 💡 At Cleartrace, we're here to support utilities and be a partner in innovation as they navigate this transformation—offering the data-driven insights needed to plan and execute new strategies effectively. Together, we can drive the future of clean energy forward. 🌍⚡ 🔗 Read the full Utility Dive article here: https://lnkd.in/eiASYzmH #CleanEnergy #Utilities #DOE #Innovation #EnergyTransition #LoadGrowth #EmergingTech #CultureChange #UtilityInsights

☀️🔋 Texas has faced unprecedented heatwaves this summer, and solar power, a variable renewable energy source, and batteries have stepped up to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running. According to a recent article by Canary Media Inc., renewables played a crucial role in stabilizing the Texas grid during these extreme weather events, despite ERCOT setting a new record for peak grid demand of 85,931 megawatts. 🌡️⚡ At Cleartrace, we’re proud to be headquartered in Austin, TX—right at the heart of these clean energy advancements. While our team is distributed across the U.S., we’re particularly excited about the increasing role of long-duration energy storage in ensuring reliable, clean energy supply in Texas and beyond. There is no doubt that intermittent resources like solar create certain challenges for utilities, but the combination of solar and batteries is proving to be a game changer for grid resilience, helping prevent blackouts and reduce strain on traditional power sources. And with long-duration storage, we're seeing increased accessibility to 24/7 carbon-free energy. 💡🌍 🔗 Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/gfqmdJpE #EnergyStorage #SolarPower #CleanEnergy #GridResilience #CarbonFreeEnergy #Heatwave #Texas #Sustainability #Renewables #LDES #AustinTX

💡Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) in the Energy Transition The way power is generated, managed, delivered, and consumed is undergoing a significant transformation. For utilities, energy suppliers, and commercial and industrial (C&I) energy off takers, staying ahead of these changes is crucial for maintaining competitiveness and achieving sustainability goals. One of the most exciting developments in this space is the emergence of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). If you're looking to enhance your clean energy offerings or bolster your decarbonization strategy, understanding VPPs is essential. We're diving into what they are and the impact they can have on your energy portfolio. 🔍 What exactly is a VPP? A VPP is a network of decentralized energy resources—think solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and demand response systems—working together as a single unit. Unlike traditional power plants, VPPs aggregate and manage these resources using advanced software, optimizing energy production, storage, and consumption in real-time. 🌍 Why should utilities and energy suppliers care about VPPs? VPPs are quickly gaining traction in the U.S. as a key solution for grid modernization. They provide a flexible, cost-effective way to integrate more renewable energy into the grid, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance grid stability. By leveraging VPPs, utilities can offer essential services like frequency regulation and peak shaving, and can tap into new revenue streams. 🔧 At Cleartrace, we're focused on the data that powers the future. VPPs represent a significant shift in energy management, and we support energy suppliers and off takers with gaining granular energy insights that will be crucial for meeting decarbonization goals and ensuring a resilient energy supply. #EnergyInnovation #VPP #RenewableEnergy #GridModernization #Decarbonization #UtilityInsights #EnergyTransition

🌍 Unlocking the Future of 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy with Long-Duration Storage ⚡ As a United Nations (UN) 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact signatory, we’re thrilled to share their latest report, “The Role of Long-Duration Energy Storage in 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Supply.” Cleartrace strongly believes long-duration storage will play a critical role in the energy transition. This report is a vital resource for #utilities and energy suppliers considering incorporating batteries into their energy portfolios and anyone committed to a carbon-free energy (CFE) future.  Some key highlights from the report include: 🔹Grid Stability & Reliability: As we scale renewable energy, storage solutions—both short and long duration—are crucial for maintaining grid stability and optimizing variable renewable energy generation. 🔹Hourly Matching Mandates: The report underscores the transformative power of regulations that require hourly matching of energy consumption with CFE sources, driving faster adoption of storage technologies and increasing availability of 24/7 CFE load matching. 🔹Economic Viability: Energy storage can enhance economic viability by providing multiple services, from energy arbitrage to grid stabilization, with the right regulatory support. 🔹Overcoming Barriers: The report addresses the challenges of high capital costs and outlines recommendations for how technological advancements, #innovation, economies of scale, data management, and supportive policies can bridge the gap to scaling long duration storage. A big shoutout to the UN 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact, and the featured signatory case studies, including FirstLight and Ørsted, for this critical work. 📈 For those shaping the future of clean energy, this is a must-read! Check out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eMzzMRaD #CarbonFreeFuture #LongDurationStorage #EnergyStorage #CleanEnergy #Renewables #Sustainability #Batteries #UtilityInsights