Actions Large Energy Buyers Can Take to Transform and Decarbonize the Grid: Procurement Practices for Achieving 100% Carbon Free Electricity

Large energy buyers—including corporates, cities, and institutional customers—have played and will continue to play an important role in driving clean energy in the near term, particularly renewables. However, to ensure that the power sector achieves deep decarbonization over the next two to three decades, large energy buyers will need to take additional actions to play a leading role in accelerating the transition to a carbon-free grid. Large energy buyers can implement approaches that help transform the grid such as matching clean energy purchasing with the timing of their energy use, incorporating demand flexibility, purchasing dispatchable clean electricity, adopting enabling technologies (e.g., energy storage), maximizing emissions reductions, and driving an an equitable transition to clean energy.