What prompted your organization to join the CEBA community? 

Being a service provider in the form of a novel tech solution for Environmental Attributes (EAs), Reneum identified CEBA as a key community through which to learn more about the clean energy needs of businesses. Reneum’s goal is to help companies use their financial muscle to power the energy transition globally and fund clean energy in geographies that have traditionally been neglected by financial markets, all whilst offsetting Scope 2 emissions and decarbonizing electricity consumption.

As a community that has members with knowledge and experience across the value chain, the networking opportunities through CEBA are a key value add in Reneum’s journey to fund the energy transition.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to clean energy procurement? 

As a solution that facilitates clean energy procurement through upgraded digital Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), building trust and credibility for the solution is our main focus at Reneum. Since the adoption curve for new applied technologies can be slow and require education and lengthy verification, we are excited to explore opportunities to collaborate with CEBA to showcase the benefits of digitization for environmental integrity. 

What does the future of clean energy look like for your organization? 

We see RECs as a tool for businesses to support clean energy projects in under-served markets and to help energy customers satisfy their climate targets in those regions where they have direct or indirect emissions from operations, but where they struggle to source clean energy. By prioritizing the certification of digital RECs for clean energy projects in emerging markets, businesses can help ramp up clean energy deployment and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. This not only benefits the energy transition, but also helps create jobs and improve energy security in these regions.

One of the outcomes from COP27 was the agreement to a “Loss and Damage” fund for vulnerable countries, which can be taken as a signal of intent from governments and the public sector to increase climate financing. This move supports Reneum’s mission of using financial instruments — in this case digital RECs — to become financially instrumental toward the global energy transition. We see a future of clean energy where the private sector in the U.S. can reach its carbon-free goals and support clean energy deployment globally at the same time, especially where U.S. businesses have operational footprints.

What is the most interesting clean energy project worked on during your time with the organization?

Given we are a service provider and deal with both the supply and demand sides for EAs through a digital solution, most projects and deals come with their own specificities. We often onboard REC providers to the platform who are surprised by the efficiency and transparency, but often need education on some of the technical aspects of our solution — such as the remote monitoring through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) — that we implement to measure generation. 

What stands out is our partnerships with governments. Some countries have not had access to EA markets, so we are working with them to collect all the RECs, certifying and digitizing them to be listed in our registry. For the first time in these countries, turnkey solutions can monetize RECs and send additional funding to the producers in various regions.

Envision a 90% carbon-free U.S. electricity system by 2030 — what is the next step toward a carbon-free energy future? 

With much focus on the voluntary emissions offset market, albeit through heavy scrutiny toward the lack of transparency and quality assurance, digitization and the use of emerging technology such as AI and blockchain will be a key element in enabling more direct climate action. The unprecedented ability to implement transparent tracking systems for measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) will result in higher trust and confidence in solutions emerging today. As a result of these innovations, we envision more awareness around EAs as a solid instrument to fulfill the last mile of procurement for businesses in their decarbonization and net-zero journeys.

We are also in the process of developing the first forward market for RECs, helping renewable projects attain true bankability and secure project financing for new builds. We are modeling both virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) and forwards, subject to energy customer requirements, alongside multinational corporate partners who are building robust ecosystems for corporate clean energy procurement.

---

Get Involved
Learn more about joining the CEBA community.