Dive Brief:
-
Schneider Electric has started a service aimed at helping facilitate corporations, banks, law firms and other organizations obtain information about renewable energy investments, Greentech Media reports.
-
Schneider says its New Energy Opportunities (NEO) gives stakeholders access to case studies, allows participants to form online connections, and provides a virtual exchange for services.
-
NEO includes data on roughly 50 markets. The founding participants include the sports arena firm AEG, pharmaceutical company Allergan, fuel-cell firm Bloom Energy, apparel company VF Corp., and the data services provider Equinix.
Dive Insight:
A boom in corporations buying renewable energy directly has spawned services aimed at helping guide those buyers in making their decisions.
In May, around 60 U.S. companies, including Facebook and Microsoft and several environmental groups, formed the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance that aims to break down barriers that corporations face as they try to meet their sustainability goals. Another group, the Utility-Corporate Buyer Collaborative Forum, is looking to make it easier for corporates to buy renewable energy.
Schneider Electric’s new service aims to provide information in so companies can more easily and efficiently make informed decisions about renewable purchases.
“What we’ve done thorough NEO is cut down on their time and distilled that information in a consumable, transparent way so that companies can get smart about renewables and quickly move to executing and implementing," John Hoekstra, director of sustainability and cleantech for Schneider, told Greentech Media.
Hoekstra says NEO is building on Schneider’s decades of experience providing energy services to clients around the world in a variety of regulatory and pricing regimes.
