Meta, Google Lead The Chart In Renewable Energy Use: SEIA

Corporate companies in the recent past have relied on renewable energy to meet their growing energy needs. In fulfilling its needs, US corporations have derived 18% of energy from solar. The report said that 20% of all installations in 2023 saw corporate offtake driving renewable energy demand in the country. The Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) report said that for on-site solar Prologis, Walmart, and Amazon maintained their rankings from its previous 2022 report.

Overall, SEIA has identified the top 10 companies for on-site solar systems which make up 1.36 GW of solar or 6.8% of total us on-site solar capacity. Across the whole United States, rooftop commercial solar capacity has grown at a 12% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the past five years. For many companies with large brick-and-mortar locations, on-site solar will continue to be a cornerstone of their energy procurement strategy.

According to the SEIA report, most growth in this space has come from historical leaders in on-site deployment. These companies have a strong understanding of the development process and established relationships with solar industry partners working across a variety of project sites, enabling expansion into new markets.

On-site solar remains a key part of the corporate solar procurement mix, as companies with significant energy demand and aggressive climate goals continue to place on-site solar in their energy procurement strategies. Enhancements to federal tax credits in 2022 have helped to mitigate some of these headwinds by helping to cover some interconnection costs, incentivizing sourcing domestic hardware, and extra credit for building in areas with a historical dependence on fossil fuel.

Corporates Adopt Energy Storage

Google has emerged at the top with 312 MWac of storage capacity. Google has 25% more battery storage installed than the rest of the top ten combined. The tech giant’s investments in large-scale storage reflect broader market trends as storage becomes an increasingly crucial element of the grid mix but also allows Google to cover more of its power needs on a real-time basis.

The addition of battery storage will be one of the next big waves of renewable energy procurement strategy for corporate buyers. As companies start diversifying into both on-site and off-site solar projects, the next big wave of renewable energy integration will be the addition of on-site and off-site batteries. This allows corporations to better control their energy costs, protect against power outages, facilitate ancillary services, help power EV fleets, and more.

Kaiser Permanente has utilized this well, installing batteries to power microgrids at its medical centers to make them more resilient to power outages. Starbucks has installed battery facilities to help power EV charging stations for its customers to use. As storage, including both standalone systems and systems paired with solar, becomes a larger component of the energy transition, companies can continue to use these investments to provide resilience and meet their specific energy goals.

Corporate Solar Pipelines Break Records

The top ten corporate buyers of solar currently hold a pipeline of 27.8 GWdc of solar. If this full volume comes online, it would total more than the cumulative capacity additions of all solar in the United States that came online in 2022. Amazon alone maintains a pipeline of 13.6 GWdc of solar in development with Meta and Google at 5.9 GWdc and 5.7 GWdc, respectively.

Companies are not only diversifying into both on-site and off-site solar but expanding into battery storage development and exploring novel procurement strategies to manage their energy needs. As corporations continue to innovate in their energy planning through microgrids, participation in ancillary services, or participation as solar tax equity investors, the procurement market will continue to adapt to ensure demand for carbon free power is met. Commercial load growth and growing sustainability ambitions have grown the pipeline of solar investments, and solar is poised to be a key energy solution for growing businesses well into the future.