Report: Corporate Giants Offtake Record Levels of Solar and Energy Storage

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--U.S. corporations, buoyed by tech giants, are offtaking record levels of solar and energy storage, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association's (SEIA) annual Solar Means Business report. However, President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail pledged to cancel all unspent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds, which have been a major reason for the expansion of renewable energy development and procurement.

"Some of the largest industrial and data operations in the world continue turning to solar and storage as a reliable, low-cost way to power their operations," said Abigail Ross Hopper, the chief executive officer of the SEIA, in a report summary.

The SEIA pointed to three major tech companies that are the main drivers for solar procurement: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Seattle, Washington), Meta Platforms Incorporated (NASDAQ:META) (Menlo Park, California) and Google--the latter of which is owned by parent company Alphabet Incorporated (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (Mountain View, California).

"Amazon has a nation-leading 13.6 GW (gigawatts) of solar procurements under contract, while Meta and Google each have nearly 6 GW under contract." These pipelines are over ten times larger than the next company in the rankings.

Last month, Amazon signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to offtake power from two solar-plus-storage projects from AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) (Arlington, Virginia) in California. Although the full details are not available, AES has stated that Amazon will be the primary offtaker from the projects. AES' Silver Peak photovoltaic (PV) solar array and battery energy storage system (BESS) accounts for 50 megawatts (MW) of solar generation capacity and 100 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage capacity; Silver Peak is adjacent to the other agreed-to source of power: the operational Baldy Mesa solar-plus-BESS project. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project and Plant Databases can click here for the related project reports and here for the plant profiles.

Meanwhile, Meta has a PPA in place for the full output from Matrix Renewables (Madrid, Spain) (Matrix has a controlling interest) and rPlus Energies' (Salt Lake City, Utah) Pleasant Valley solar project under construction in Ada County, Idaho, where Boise is located. It has a nameplate generation capacity of 200 MW. Click here to read more information on the project. Meta plans to use the project to power its planned data center in Kuna, also located in Ada County, to be constructed in phases. Construction of the first phase is underway and is expected to wrap up in early 2025. Subscribers to the GMI Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can click here for related reports.

Another tech giant, Google, recently signed a PPA to procure power from NextEra Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida) Pierce County Energy Center in Nebraska, which is expected to be operational in 2027. The facility features 420 MW of solar power and a 170-MW/680-MWh BESS. Click here to read the project report.

Respondents to the survey used to compile the SEIA's Solar Means Business report noted incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act were a major reason for expansion of their renewable energy procurement. In addition, according to the report, "buyer sentiment suggests that there is strong interest in participating in new procurement markets, and that positive policy developments could unlock even stronger growth."

However, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to cancel all unspent IRA funds--which would impact the development of renewable energy--although it remains to be seen if Congress will approve repealing the legislation; even Republican-leaning states have benefited from IRA-related funds.

For information on how Trump's win could impact the buildout of renewable energy needed to power U.S. data centers, see November 8, 2024, article - How Will Trump II Affect Energy for Rising Power Demand of U.S. Data Centers?.

In a statement following the election, SEIA Chief Executive Officer Abigail Ross Hopper committed to working with Trump to "ensure the solar and storage industry, as well as the domestic manufacturing renaissance we've seen over the last few years, continue to thrive and play a vital role in America's energy economy."

Subscribers to the GMI Database can click here for the project reports cited in this article and here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).