Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  March 21, 2022

Google Tracking Energy Use with Certificates

Google announced it has made significant progress in developing its Time-based Energy Attribute Certificates (T-EACs) to track hour-by-hour energy use, such as expanding the use of hourly certificates within and outside of Google.

 The company has also accelerated the development of tools and systems to unlock energy data and hourly matching and creating technical standards to drive the widespread adoption of T-EACs.

 “As Google and others move toward ‘round-the-clock carbon-free energy, we need new systems that enable energy consumers, system operators, and governments to know exactly what kinds of energy are being produced, consumed, and traded on an hourly basis across every electricity grid,” Maud Texier, head of energy development at Google, wrote in a blog post.  

Once fully developed and widely deployed, T-EACs will not only help Google achieve its 24/7 carbon-free goal but will also generate valuable new insights about the availability of carbon-free energy on electricity grids every hour of every day. 

This information will help energy consumers better understand their energy use while empowering governments and system operators to develop more rapid and cost-effective strategies for decarbonization. 

Google has partnered with organizations globally to track energy usage. In the U.S., the company worked with M-RETS, a non-profit that tracks and validates energy attribute certificates, to expand the hourly transaction capabilities of their platform and enable the tracking and retirement of hourly certificates by all of its users. 

The company has also worked with APX, a leader in market-based environmental technologies, to support the retirement of hourly Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) within the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) through the APX North American Renewables Registry platform. As a result of this work, electricity generators across the central and Midwest U.S. will soon have the option to retire certificates on an hourly basis wherever hourly data is available.

Google has also collaborated with the Danish grid operator, Energinet, as they build the technical foundation to support granular certification and develop innovative applications such as the Project Energy Origin platform. In Latin America, Google launched a pilot led by The International REC Standard Foundation (I-REC Standard), in close collaboration with Evident Services and our suppliers, ACCIONA Energia and AES Andes. 

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