New rules for a new era: what you need to know about the 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition guidelines

Late May, the Climate Group released the technical guidelines for the 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition (CFC). Founded by Google, Vodafone, AstraZeneca, AirTrunk, Shree Cement and IronMountain, this coalition of large energy buyers is establishing a new standard in renewable energy procurement. Pushing beyond the current standard of annual matching through Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), the coalition favours procurement methods that will encourage 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) in our grids.

Granular Energy is proud to have contributed to the working group that wrote the technical guidelines to help corporates, suppliers and market participants navigate hourly matching and aiming for 24/7. Here is a digest of the technical guidelines.

24/7 CFC rules for energy buyers to follow

• EACs must have hourly timestamps, or be paired with hourly metering data

Where possible, energy procurement should have time-stamped EACs. However today many EAC systems still operate on a monthly or annual granularity. When that is the case, EACs must be combined with the hourly metering data from the same generator.

• Hourly (or sub-hourly) matching is required

CFE usage claims must align the time of electricity consumption with the same hour (or smaller interval) of generation. The (sub)hourly period is referred to as the “vintage” of energy attributes.

• No shape manipulation of time series

CFE matching and claims needs to respect the shape of the underlying metering data. For example, buying 50% of a project’s monthly output means claiming exactly 50% of each hour’s output - not more, not less. This principle is referred to as “shape preservation”. Shape preservation ensures no individual hours of CFE generation are double-counted, and that CFE matching is aligned with the physical reality of generation, by preventing the selection of only the most aligned hours. This enables scalability, and will highlight hours where we are lacking CFE generation, therefore triggering signals for carbon-free generation build up.

• Storage claims must track timestamped input and output

If electricity is stored and later discharged, buyers must demonstrate the CFE origin of the input. Storage records must show hourly charge and discharge cycles, and any CFE claim via storage must follow a “first-in, first-out” methodology. This is what we are implementing in our storage methodology.

How energy suppliers can deliver on these criteria

Suppliers play a key role in enabling energy buyers to meet their compliance and voluntary requirements, whether GHG Protocol reporting, RE100, and now the 24/7 CFC. With these new guidelines, suppliers need to be ready to give buyers a 24/7 CFC-ready tariff or contract, and have the infrastructure for it:

1. Traceable supply tariff: suppliers need to deliver tariffs, products, or programmes that follow the guidelines. That means providing EACs with metering data (or timestamped EACs), and ensuring that hourly matching is done following the guidelines, keeping in mind the shape preservation requirements.
2. Their management systems must have additional data: hourly or sub-hourly vintages, location, and timestamp metadata, and they must demonstrate secure issuance, trading, and retirement of certificates.
3. Giving the buyer transparency is also key. Suppliers should ensure that EACs or contracts clearly specify timestamp granularity so that buyers can audit and report on their claims. This is vital in retail contracts, which are otherwise prone to lacking this level of detail.

Suppliers that are 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition ready

At Granular Energy, we’ve been building software enabling suppliers to prepare for a 24/7 CFE future. Many of our partners have already launched CFE matching products. The following suppliers publicly offer 24/7 CFC ready contracts today:

UK

• Brook Green Supply
• Drax
• Ecotricity
• Good Energy
• Npower Business Solutions
• SmartestEnergy
• Tem
• TotalEnergies

Europe

• Germany: Lichtblick
• Greece: PPA
• Italy: A2A

APAC

• Jera - Japan

Are you a supplier offering a 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition compliant tariff that isn't on the list? Get in touch.

Are you a buyer trying to understand how to adjust your procurement strategy? You too, get in touch.