BOSTON, July 14, 2021 – REsurety announced today a new data tool, called Locational Marginal Emissions, created with Microsoft and built on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, to help customers maximize decarbonization investments. Top clean energy buyers, investors, and advisors including Microsoft, Hannon Armstrong, Marathon Capital, Akamai Technologies, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, Broad Reach Power, and The Brattle Group will use the new data product from REsurety to measure and maximize the decarbonization impact of each dollar they spend on solar, wind, and energy storage.
Buying clean energy is a means to an end: decarbonization. While many corporations have committed to achieve carbon neutrality or “net-zero” by a certain date, the methods for measuring and maximizing progress have been limited by a lack of data. To date, carbon measurement tools have relied on regional averages, which can materially over- or under-estimate the carbon impact of a specific clean energy project.
The new Locational Marginal Emissions data tool from REsurety addresses this problem.
REsurety’s patent-pending Locational Marginal Emissions technology calculates the carbon emissions at each node on an electric grid with hourly granularity. This helps decision-makers understand how much each specific clean energy procurement, load-siting, or energy storage decision contributes to their decarbonization goals.
Corporations can more precisely and strategically address their net-zero and carbon-free goals by using Locational Marginal Emissions to more accurately measure how much carbon is being avoided by their specific clean energy projects, as well as to better measure how much carbon is emitted as result of their electrical load.
“Locational Marginal Emissions solve the need for transparent and accurate carbon impact data,” said Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety. “It’s what corporate ESG leaders want to know: how many tons of carbon emissions are actually avoided by the clean energy they’re buying.”
“We can play a key role in fully decarbonizing the grid,” said Brian Janous, GM of Energy and Renewables, Microsoft. “To do it the fastest and the most cost-effectively, we need to be able to understand the carbon impact of each MWh coming from a specific wind, solar, or storage plant. We want to make sure that the clean energy we’re helping to bring onto the grid has the maximum environmental benefit. REsurety’s Locational Marginal Emissions data gives us the transparency we need to make climate-wise investments.”
Sustainability leaders who will use the new data tool range from tech companies to investment banks and impact investors.
Climate investment firm Hannon Armstrong will use Locational Marginal Emissions to further enhance its sustainability investment screen for clean energy assets. “Understanding the carbon impact for all current and future portfolio projects is central to our purpose as a climate positive investor. LMEs offer precision that previously did not exist in the marketplace, and we are pleased to incorporate this innovative and complementary data set alongside our CarbonCount® methodology,” said Rich Santoroski, Chief Analytics Officer.
Marathon Capital, an industry-leading investment bank and advisor, plans to use Locational Marginal Emissions to support their clients. “We are eager to apply this data-driven approach to empower our clients to invest in projects with the largest carbon-reducing impact,” said Joan Hutchinson, Managing Director of the Offtake Advisory group.
David Scaysbrook, Managing Partner of Quinbrook, said, “REsurety is tackling a fundamental data gap we have all been grappling with. Reducing carbon emissions by deploying impactful renewables at scale lies at the core of our work at Quinbrook. Using LMEs will help us be even more discriminating in the investments we make, and it will assist us, our investors, and our offtake customers to create accurate carbon assessments that both track our ‘value add’ and meet increasing reporting obligations.”
REsurety VP of Power Market Research Dr. David Luke Oates and Dr. Kathleen Spees of The Brattle Group co-authored a white paper earlier this year that introduced the new Locational Marginal Emissions approach. “Increasingly, electricity systems that are decarbonizing will face grid pockets of clean energy ‘saturation’ where developing more clean energy will offer diminishing decarbonization value. LME data will offer policy makers and consumers the information they need to shift program dollars to where it can make the greatest impact,” said Dr. Spees.
Akamai Technologies, a leading provider of solutions that protect and deliver digital content, plans to use Locational Marginal Emissions to improve measurement of emission reductions derived from renewable energy investments. “In order to achieve our 2030 sustainability goals, which include powering 100% of global operations with renewable energy, we need transparency and accuracy in measuring our emissions,” says Mike Mattera, Director of Corporate Sustainability. “REsurety’s LMEs provide us with an extra level of confidence in our calculations.”
“Broad Reach Power is proud to join this group of industry leaders as an early adopter of the Locational Marginal Emissions tool,” said Paul Choi, EVP of Origination at Broad Reach Power, an owner/operator of utility-scale wind, solar, and energy storage power projects. “With a storage pipeline exceeding 14 GW, granular carbon emissions data will be crucial to ensure we more efficiently reduce carbon emissions while increasing grid reliability.”
REsurety’s Locational Marginal Emissions data is available for projects in ERCOT and will be available for other U.S. markets later this year. To learn how your company can better measure and maximize the carbon impact of your clean energy investments or purchases, contact carbon@resurety.com.
