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Technology companies are the dominant sector investing in solar energy as demand for electricity soars to keep pace with the growth of data centers.
With electricity demand rising and solar prices falling, U.S. businesses are investing in record levels of solar power and energy storage to power their operations or offset their usage.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its ninth annual Solar Means Business report , which notes that through the first quarter of 2024, U.S. companies have installed nearly 40 GW of on-site and off-site solar capacity. Total corporate storage usage exceeds 1.8 GWh, and companies have reported more than 3 GWh of contracted battery storage expected to come online over the next 5 years.
The top five companies in terms of solar contracting are Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple and Walmart. Meta maintains its position as the top corporate user of solar, with nearly 5.2 GW of capacity, while Google is the top user of energy storage, with 936 MWh of installed battery capacity.
It is notable that the top investors in solar and storage are also the ones with data centers, which are driving electricity demand to all-time highs. Amazon, Meta, and Google continue to add capacity with facilities that, combined, are more than ten times larger than the next company in the ranking. Amazon alone has 13.6 GW of solar procurement under contract, while Meta and Google each have nearly 6 GW under contract.
Amazon recently announced that it had met its 2019 goal of matching all electricity consumed in its global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2030. In many cases, Amazon does not have solar power on-site, but instead matches its electricity demand by investing in renewable energy credits (RECs), documents that represent a financial investment in off-site renewable energy capacity.
Meta is also investing in solar energy elsewhere. For example, the company is an investor in the Eleven Mile Solar Center near Phoenix, Arizona. The 300 MW solar park and 300 MW/1200 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) have the capacity to produce enough energy to power businesses, homes, and the data center that Meta plans to build in Mesa, Arizona.
“Some of the world’s largest industrial and data operations continue to turn to solar and storage as a reliable, low-cost way to power their operations,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA. “These industry giants are investing in solar across a diverse range of applications, including on- and off-site installations, in carports, paired with storage, or even as the anchor tenant of a community solar project.”
For the ninth consecutive year, Target maintains its position as the nation’s top user of onsite corporate solar. Prologis, Walmart, Amazon and Blackstone also rank among the top five companies for onsite solar installations.
Major manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota and US Steel are also among the top ten companies for new solar contracts.
Toyota recently signed a virtual power purchase agreement for the 815 MW Sequoia Solar project, located approximately 240 km west of Dallas, Texas, which when completed will be one of the largest photovoltaic energy facilities in North America.
Battery energy storage
The Solar Means Business 2024 report has for the first time tracked the largest corporate users of battery energy storage. The report reveals that Google, Apple and Meta are also among the top 10 companies investing the most in storage. Once again, these companies are turning to clean energy to power data centers, and now to batteries for greater resilience.
“Adding new solar to the grid is a critical aspect of our approach to ensuring our data centers are powered by clean, renewable energy,” said Carolyn Campbell, Director of Clean and Renewable Energy, East, at Meta. “We are thrilled to rank #1 for corporate solar procurement in this year’s SEIA report and continue to find ways to grow the grid to benefit everyone and support our goal of powering our global operations with 100% clean, renewable energy.”
Major retailers like Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Kohls have also embraced warehousing.
“We began our solar program more than 20 years ago,” said Erin Tyler, vice president of property management for Target Corporation. “Target’s long-term investments in clean energy continue to create value for our guests, communities and shareholders. With our commitment to solar, we are on track to meet our corporate goal of sourcing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030.”
In the medical sector, companies such as Kaiser Permanente are using batteries to power microgrids in medical centers and make them more resilient to power outages. The report predicts that on-site and off-site energy storage will be a dominant trend in the integration of renewable energy into businesses.
Long-term incentives from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) were strong reasons for companies to expand renewable energy procurement. Companies also said interconnection reforms, new EU solar legislation and easier monetization of tax credits would encourage increased clean energy investment. |
