What Is The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance?
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2015 by four major tech companies – Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon – along with the non-governmental organization World Wildlife Fund. The goal in creating REBA was to encourage large energy buyers to collaboratively source renewable energy at scale.
Mission
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), now known as the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), aims to empower energy customers, drive rapid adoption of clean energy, and catalyze 60 gigawatts of new renewable energy by 2025 (Clean Energy Buyers Alliance).
CEBA’s mission is to create a resilient, zero-carbon energy system where corporations can easily buy clean energy that fits their sustainability goals. The association facilitates collective action, providing education, resources, and best practices to energy customers (Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance).
CEBA wants to transform U.S. electricity systems by empowering large energy buyers to procure 60 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025. This will accelerate the transition to clean energy nationwide (World Resources Institute).
Membership
The Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA) is open to companies, organizations, and individuals committed to growing the renewable energy market. CEBA membership includes major corporations, cities, universities, and other large energy buyers across multiple sectors. Some of the world’s most iconic brands are CEBA members, including Google, Facebook, Walmart, GM, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola (https://www.greenbiz.com/article/renewable-energy-buyers-alliance-now-clean-energy-buyers-alliance). There are three main types of CEBA membership – energy buyers, service providers, and NGOs. The alliance had over 300 members as of 2020.
By joining CEBA, large energy buyers can collaborate with industry peers to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Members benefit from policy advocacy, events, and resources to help them meet sustainability goals and procure renewable energy. CEBA also helps connect corporate buyers to renewable energy developers, service providers, and other experts.
Activities
REBA leads various programs and initiatives to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Some key activities include:
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) Deal Tracker provides real-time data on large renewable energy deals in the corporate market. The deal tracker highlights key details like the buyer, seller, project size, location, and more (source).
REBA launched the Renewable Energy Buyers Principles in 2021, outlining four key priorities for renewable energy purchasing including access, affordability, reliability, and additionality (source).
The Clean Energy Buyers Institute provides workshops, webinars, and other educational resources to equip procurement teams with the skills needed to execute renewable energy transactions (source).
REBA partners with policymakers, utilities, and other stakeholders to advocate for policies that enable corporate renewable energy procurement, such as green tariffs and virtual power purchase agreements.
Impact
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) has had a significant impact on renewable energy capacity in the United States. According to the Inspire PR Group, REBA is “a member-based organization that works with leading corporations to build new wind and solar projects.” Since it was founded in 2014, REBA has helped major companies like Apple, Amazon, and Walmart purchase over 60 gigawatts of renewable energy. This amounts to over half of all the large-scale corporate renewable energy deals completed to date in the United States.
By aggregating the buying power of major corporations, REBA has accelerated the renewable energy market and made pricing more competitive. The >Inspire PR Group notes that REBA has “helped transform the energy marketplace by making access to large-scale renewable energy more streamlined, helping to reduce costs and create clean energy at scale.” Through its collective purchasing model, REBA has facilitated over $8 billion in renewable energy investment in the U.S. so far.
In summary, REBA has played a pivotal role in the growth of corporate renewable energy procurement over the past decade. Its innovative model has made purchasing clean energy more feasible and affordable for many companies, leading to tens of gigawatts of new wind and solar projects.
Policy Advocacy
The Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA) advocates for policy changes to enable corporations, other large energy buyers, and service providers to more easily procure renewable energy. Some of the key policy issues CEBA focuses on include:
Pushing for fair access to renewable energy projects through policy and regulatory reforms, such as lifting caps on virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) and expanding access to shared renewables projects (source).
Advocating for more ambitious renewable energy and decarbonization commitments from utilities, removing barriers to corporate clean energy procurement in regulated electricity markets (source).
Pushing for policies that enable aggregation of distributed energy resources and facilitate peer-to-peer electricity trading (source).
Advocating for carbon pricing policies and reforms to power markets to better account for externalities (source).
Supporting policies to modernize the grid and enable greater integration of renewable energy (source).
Events
REBA hosts conferences and events focused on driving collaboration and sharing best practices between corporate renewable energy buyers. Some of their major events include:
The REBA Summit held annually at VERGE conferences brings together energy buyers to advance corporate renewable energy sourcing.
The REBA Fall Summit is an annual event that convenes corporate renewable energy buyers to learn about innovations in procurement.
REBA also hosts regional events and webinars throughout the year to facilitate collaboration between buyers.
Leadership
REBA has a diverse leadership team dedicated to advancing renewable energy. The board of directors includes representatives from major corporations like Amazon, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, and Walmart who are committed to achieving 100% renewable energy (https://lobbymap.org/site/data/000/929/CEBA_boardofdirectors_feb2022.pdf). REBA’s executive team provides strategic guidance and operations leadership, with Miranda Ballentine serving as CEO since 2019. Ballentine brings over 20 years of experience in renewable energy and sustainability (https://cebuyers.org/about/vision/).
With engaged corporate leadership and experienced executives, REBA is well-positioned to accelerate the renewable energy transition.
Funding
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) is funded through a combination of membership dues, sponsorships, and grants. As a nonprofit trade association, REBA relies on the financial support of its members and partners to carry out its mission.
REBA offers different tiers of membership, with annual dues ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the member’s category and annual electricity usage. Members include major companies like Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, Microsoft, and Google that are actively procuring renewable energy (Crunchbase).
In addition to membership dues, REBA receives sponsorships from companies in the renewable energy industry. Sponsors have the opportunity to support REBA initiatives and gain visibility among REBA members (GreenBiz).
REBA has also received grant funding from philanthropic foundations like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which awarded REBA a $150,000 grant in 2018 to support its policy work andmembership expansion (CauseIQ).
The Future
According to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) one-pager, the organization has an ambitious vision for the future, with a goal of 60% renewable electricity in the U.S. by 2030 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050 [1]. To achieve this, REBA plans to continue bringing large energy buyers together, aggregating demand, and accelerating access to renewable energy. The alliance also aims to enable smart policy and clear market signals to reach their goals.
As stated on the REBA website’s Our Vision page, the organization will work towards growing the alliance, developing new products and services for members, educating policymakers, and improving access to renewable energy [2]. Key priorities looking ahead include working with utilities and regulators for better access to renewable power, aggregating smaller buyers to match larger ones, and expanding internationally.
Overall, REBA is focused on scaling up renewable energy demand, ensuring an equitable transition, and demonstrating that large-scale renewable uptake is achievable.
