TL;DR:
Many large multi-national corporations have turned to PPAs and VPPAs
PPAs can help lower electricity costs
VPPAs allow companies to harvest the ESG benefits without on-site solar
Overview
Many companies currently have ESG initiatives and have invested substantially in renewable energy, becoming leaders in the now-popular movement to go green. Using PPAs, they can purchase the solar energy through a provider ensuring they can get all the renewable energy they need without having to purchase the panels themselves.
Google, one of the biggest names and largest innovators in the tech industry, has revealed they are signed to over 80 agreements as of 2022. In their 2023 environmental report, they claim they will spend $10 billion in the next 16 years (2040) on renewable energy through PPAs. According to Baxtel, in 2024 Google agreed to purchase more than 430 MW of energy, all through renewable sources, to offset their Arizona data center’s consumption.
Apple Inc.
Apple is a long-time supporter of the sustainability movement and has signed multiple long-term PPAs for solar energy. The earliest being in 2015, confirming a large purchase for 130 MW of solar energy in just California. Now they are headed for their goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
Amazon
Amazon consistently invests in sustainable practices and renewable energy; just this past year they confirmed PPAs with companies in South Korea and Japan, amounting to 60 MW and 38 MW respectively. In their 2022 sustainability reports, it says they’ve purchased renewable energy from 401 projects that amount to over 20 GW of power. The company is aiming to be fully run on renewable energy by 2025.
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers in the United States, is fully carbon neutral as of 2020. One big reason being in 2018, the healthcare giant announced they were the, “largest renewable energy purchaser in the U.S. healthcare sector”, after authorizing a PPA amounting to 180 MW.
General Motors (GM)
The famous automotive company is committed to operating their US properties on 100% renewable energy by next year (2025), based on their sustainability reports from 2022. During 2022, GM also approved a deal with CSM Energy to power their buildings in Michigan, “offsetting...235,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually”, according to Renewables Now.
Microsoft
Being one of the biggest technology companies in the world, they use a substantial amount of power, and yet are still on track to be carbon negative by 2030. From their 2022 environmental sustainability report, they tell us their, “total portfolio of carbon-free energy”, amounts to over 13.5 GW due to signing PPAs. Earlier this week, Microsoft signed two PPAs for 200MW each.
Walmart
Walmart is one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy in the world, participating in around “600 onsite and offsite renewable energy projects”. Just a few days ago, the retail company announced their agreement to purchase nearly 1 GW of power, with a large portion of it being solar energy. They are progressing towards their goal to be completely operational under renewable energy by the year 2035.
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