Marin Clean Energy claims to offer its Light Green customers 56 percent renewable electricity and Deep Green customers 100 percent for a modest premium, while Pacific Gas and Electric Co. offers just over 20 percent.
How does Marin Clean Energy offer so much more clean energy? Simply by taking a shortcut. It buys large quantities of unbundled Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which allow it to procure the same dirty energy that PG&E provides and call it “green.”
RECs were originally developed to serve the same purpose as an organic sticker on a tomato at the market — to differentiate between special and conventional commodities.
When renewable energy reaches the grid, it requires a label to distinguish it from all the electricity generated from burning fossil fuels. In certifying that a quantity of renewable energy was generated, RECs are typically bundled with the energy itself, thus providing extra income to renewable energy producers and allegedly leading to investment in new renewable facilities.
Unbundled RECs are certificates sold separately, without the associated energy, and provide the same subsidy. However, studies and simple accounting show that unbundled RECs do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are not equivalent to green energy.
For example, when Marin Clean Energy procures 100 megawatts of non-renewable energy for its customers, it might buy 100 unbundled RECs from a wind farm to “offset” its carbon emissions. In this scenario, Marin Clean Energy reports to its Light Green and Deep Green customers that it provided renewable energy. Yet the problem is that 100 megawatts worth of emissions were still created, and while the RECs might be certified by a third-party organization, the certification process does nothing to verify that new renewable projects were funded with the proceeds of unbundled RECs.
The reality is that the wind farm simply traded away its title to the green attributes of its energy for extra profit; Marin Clean Energy does not tell its customer that it is purchasing non-renewable energy relabeled as clean; and in turn, greenhouse gas emissions remain unchanged despite the purchase of unbundled RECs.
In order to claim an offset for emissions related to its purchase of conventional energy, Marin Clean Energy must participate in a system that verifies that its RECs subsidize the construction of additional renewable facilities. This system does not yet exist.
Therefore as a Marin Clean Energy customer, you are being promised at least 56 percent renewables, yet the agency is only procuring 36 percent renewable energy. At least 20 percent of the energy that Marin Clean Energy claims is offset through its purchase of unbundled RECs is simply not green.
Bay Area customers want to power their lives with clean energy, and have against all odds succeeded in bucking PG&E to create Marin Clean Energy, a new breed of electric utility focused on climate change and beholden only to local government representatives and the customers it serves.
However, customers must not be complacent in accepting Marin Clean Energy’s marketing regarding the percentage of renewables they provide.
Customers should demand that the agency and its board follow the lead of Sonoma Clean Power, which has virtually abandoned unbundled RECs, asserting in its own words, “we don’t think (unbundled) RECs are effective at supporting our local economy and have a limited benefit for supporting the construction of new renewable resources. For this reason, Sonoma Clean Power has committed to using no unbundled RECs for the purpose of calculating our greenhouse gas impacts.”
Marin Clean Energy should be proud of the 36 percent renewable energy it actually provides, but continue to vigorously secure new purchase agreements with renewable facilities. If it doesn’t believe it can emulate these neighboring utilities in limiting marketing claims to renewable energy procured directly from the source, it should at least aim to improve the transparency and standards with which it can implement the purchase of RECs.
Any unbundled REC purchases must lead to long-term investment in new renewable facilities — a difficult task. But without these reforms, Marin Clean Energy’s marketing claims defy reality.
Christopher Naso of Greenbrae is a former energy case assistant at a large law firm. Wesley Dunphy of Washington D.C. is an employment data analyst at a leading university. Both are Redwood High School graduates.
