Constellation has signed an agreement with the Illinois utility ComEd to supply 100% hourly-matched carbon-free electricity to its offices and facilities, the power supplier announced Thursday.
The deal will deliver an estimated 65,000 megawatt-hours of nuclear power annually to ComEd’s 54 offices and metered sites, Constellation said.
Most businesses that voluntarily reduce their Scope 2 emissions do so by matching the power they use on an annual basis with renewable energy certificates, which represent one megawatt-hour of renewable power delivered to the grid. But accounting for and offsetting power on an annual basis can still result in net carbon emissions.
Most renewable power generation delivers electricity on an intermittent basis. When the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow, U.S. grids tend to rely on firm, carbon-emitting generation sources like natural gas or coal to make up the difference. As a result, purchasing and retiring abundant day-time solar power, for example, does not necessarily offset power consumed after the sun sets.
Businesses have begun to match their power use on an hourly basis with renewable energy generated at the same time and, in some cases, at the same location in order achieve true net zero Scope 2 emissions.
“ComEd is committed to doing everything possible to help Illinois achieve its goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050, and that includes reducing the use of fossil fuels and lowering carbon emissions at our own facilities in every hour of every day,” said ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones in a statement. “Constellation’s 100 percent hourly matching carbon-free energy solution provides an important tool to address the challenges of climate change.”
Google, in partnership with AES, first developed an hourly-matching program in 2020 after determining its annual matching led to significant carbon emissions, especially from its data centers which require power around the clock.
Constellation developed a similar scheme with Microsoft in 2022.
Around-the-clock carbon free power remains challenging in many regions. Many regional transmission organizations do not allow for hourly tracking in their REC generation systems. M-RETS began issuing hourly-stamped RECs in 2019. The PJM Interconnection followed this year, and NEPOOL is working towards it, sources previously told OPIS.
The Biden Administration issued an Executive Order in 2021 requiring the federal government achieve 50% carbon-free power on an hourly basis by 2030.
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–Reporting by Henry Kronk, [email protected]; Editing by Jeremy Rakes, [email protected]