Finance | Page 28

American PowerNet, an independent power supply company, announced its adoption of a blockchain-based digital payments platform to facilitate real-time payments within the renewable energy sector and to purchase power for Pennsylvania.

In this column from Microsoft, the company presents the Volume Firming Agreement (VFA), a new solution to mitigate the risks and simplify the complexities that exist in the current PPA structure that may inhibit their effectiveness as a risk management tool for the corporate procurement market.

Walmart plans to install a mix of rooftop and ground-mount solar panels at 19 of its stores and two distributions across Illinois, expected to total approximately 23 MW.

No longer reserved for the Fortune 500, financial instruments like Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs) are gaining popularity among smaller companies and public-sector entities looking to cost-effectively meet clean energy goals. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Walmart have paved the way for other, more risk averse but environmentally-minded entities to power their operations with renewable energy.

Facebook and Stanford University are among the first customers of a new venture created to lease electric buses to U.S. corporations, schools, and cities. The enterprise joins BYD Co., a Warren Buffet-backed manufacturer of electric vehicles in China

Data centers are a fast-growing source of energy consumption. While today they consume 2% of the electricity in the US, by 2030 that figure is expected to grow to 10%. Switch, a technology infrastructure corporation, wants to ensure this tremendous growth in energy consumption occurs in the most sustainable way

Montgomery County Green Bank has launched its first loan product for businesses to finance energy efficiency projects, with the hope of making 100 loans available in the next year.

Smart Energy Decisions' 2018 Innovation Summit featured presentations addressing the theme of "The Future of Energy Management." Here is the next in a series of these presentations, "Energy-as-a-Service: A new way forward or latest industry buzzword?"

T-Mobile announced its commitment to reach 100% renewable energy by 2021. The company has become the latest to join RE100.