Choose the best renewable energy supply for your business

Companies are rushing to cut carbon emissions and switch to renewable energy. But it’s not like flicking a switch. There’s a surprising number of factors to weigh up as you choose the renewable energy sourcing strategy that’s best for your business. Andy Peyman outlines the various clean energy sourcing strategies for businesses and explains their relative pros and cons. Want more detail? Watch our webinar where Andy dives deeper into the world of renewables.

Watch the webinar

Our renewable supply options

We offer a range of renewable supply choices, allowing you to pick the right option for your business. 

Renewable for Business

Electricity backed by UK REGOs or European GoOs, from a blend of sources including hydro, wind, solar, biomass and landfill gas.

UK Renewable

Electricity generated from renewable sources in the UK, backed by REGOs. 

Hydroeletric damn - Types and alternative sources of renewable energy

Clean Renewable

Electricity generated in the UK from clean renewable sources. That's wind, solar and/or hydro, and backed by REGOs. 

Select Renewable

If you want your electricity supply sourced from a particular renewable technology or from a geographic region, our Select Renewable option gives you the flexibility, offering a strong sustainability message.

How can choosing a renewable supply help your business?

1. Pitching for new business

Over half of our business customers who sell to other businesses told us that they are asked for information on their environmental credentials when they pitch for sales or contracts. Of these, more than 80% said they’re being asked about this  more often. Half our business customers who sell to consumers told us they felt their sustainability credentials are important to their customers*. By choosing a renewable supply, you can show that your business has made an informed choice – to run on electricity backed by renewable generation.

*Source: A survey of people most responsible for managing energy contracts in 132 large businesses conducted by McCallum Layton on behalf of EDF Energy from 5/12/2013 to 29/01/2014.

2. Reporting your carbon emissions

Does your business follow global best practice and report its carbon emissions using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (The GHG Protocol)? Then your choice of electricity supply can make a big difference to the numbers you report. Choosing a  renewable energy supply will allow your business to report zero carbon emissions for its electricity use. This is particularly important for larger businesses who have corporate social responsibility ambitions to join strategic initiatives like the  RE100*. 

*Source: there100.org/re100

3. Assuring investors and shareholders

CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) tracks thousands of companies’ climate change strategies and emissions reduction performance to help institutional investors understand the risk in their portfolios. These investors hold assets worth over US100 trillion*. The CDP currently uses the GHG Protocol as the method for companies to report their emissions. Choosing one of our renewable supply options can support your performance in their assessment process. 

*Source: www.cdp.net/en/info/about-us

Talk to an expert about your energy

Fill out our quick form and we’ll be in touch to talk through the best tariff for you. 

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Picture of wind turbines in the countryside

Buying zero carbon does not create more zero carbon energy in the UK

It’s important to be clear about this. Whether you choose a zero carbon supply backed by renewable or nuclear energy, your purchase does not in itself cause any new zero carbon generation to be produced. The zero carbon electricity that we buy for Blue for Business or renewable products is supplied into the National Grid. Customers receive that electricity through the National Grid, not directly from zero carbon generators.

But your choice does show that your organisation is aware of the carbon intensity of the power it buys and is consistent with widely used standards and guidance in carbon accounting*. And that’s a step in the right direction.

*Source: www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/corporate-standard

 

Upgrade to a zero carbon electricity contract

Many businesses are choosing to go zero carbon(1). And at EDF, our zero carbon solution is the same price as standard, so there's no extra cost. 

Find out more

Renewable electricity, the facts

Report zero carbon emissions from your purchased electricity

Modern carbon reporting standards like the GHG Protocol require organisations to base their carbon emissions reporting on the choice they make for their electricity purchases (called “market-based emissions”), as well as their grid connection (called “location-based emissions”). The idea is that using both numbers gives a fairer, more complete picture of an organisation’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions by choosing to purchase low-carbon electricity or being more energy efficient.

With our renewable electricity options, your organisation’s electricity supply is backed by certified renewable generation sources which all have a zero emissions rating. That takes your marketbased carbon emissions to zero, and with climate change now a mainstream issue, that can only help your business.

Available for both fixed and flexible price supply contracts, our renewable options are backed by REGOs (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origins) and/or GoOs (Guarantee of Origin). The REGO scheme is administered by Ofgem and is used to provide transparency to consumers about the proportion of electricity that suppliers source from renewable generation in the UK. GoOs are proof that the electricity has been generated by a renewable generation source from an EU country.

  • Each megawatt-hour (MWh) is evidenced by a REGO or a GoO.
  • The purpose of the certificate is to prove that a given share of energy was produced from renewable sources.

 

All from one of Europe’s largest renewable energy generators and purchasers

With 598MW of installed renewable generating capacity, EDF Group is one of the largest renewable generators in Europe. We operate 31 wind farms in the UK with 8 more on the way. We are also a major purchaser of renewable electricity from many independent renewable generators in the UK.

Compare your options

How our renewable supply options compare with our Blue for Business and standard offers

Modern carbon reporting standards encourage businesses to use their choice of electricity supply to support their environmental commitments.

We offer three electricity source choices:

  1. Standard: backed by all electricity generation technologies from lower carbon renewables and nuclear, to higher carbon coal and gas.
  2. Renewable: backed by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) or GoOs (Guarantee of Origin).
  3. Blue for Business: backed by nuclear generation.

 

Our fuel mix

Every year we must publish details of the fuel sources that have been used to generate the electricity we supply to our customers. The information in the table below covers our supply licence for EDF Energy Customers Ltd for the period from April 2019 to March 2020.

Our customers' electricity is sourced from our own UK power stations, the wholesale energy market and other independent power generators. We are a major supporter of independent renewable generators.

Coal Gas Nuclear Renewable Other CO2 g/kWh Radioactive waste g/kWh
EDF Energy's fuel mix3.5%9.3%66.6%20.5%0.1% 700.0047
Contribution to our carbon emissions49%49.3% 0.0%  0.0%1.7%  
UK average fuel mix3.9%39.4% 16.6% 37.9% 2.2% 1980.0012

The figures for the UK average fuel mix are provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Depending on the tariff you are on, the fuel source and the carbon emissions associated with the generation of your electricity may vary.

Fuel type Nuclear (1) Renewable (2) Other CO2 g/kWh Carbon balancing of residual emissions (3)
Residential tariffs 100% 0 ✓
SME tariffs 100% 0 ✓
Blue for Business tariff 100% 0 ✓
Renewable tariffs 100% 0 ✓
Other tariffs 9.1% coal, 24.4% gas, 55.3% nuclear, 10.9% renewable, 0.3% other 183

Product table

(1) Nuclear: At the end of each fuel mix reporting year we’ll make sure we’ve have enough nuclear generation declarations to match the total volume of electricity supplied to all of our customers on zero carbon nuclear backed tariffs.

(2) Renewable: At the end of each fuel mix reporting year we’ll make sure we have purchased enough renewable electricity or allocated enough renewable energy guarantee of origin certificates to match the total volume of electricity supplied to all of our customers on tariffs labelled as renewable.

(3) Carbon balancing: At the end of each fuel mix reporting year we’ll make sure we have allocated enough carbon emission reduction certificates to completely offset any residual emissions identified in the ongoing operation of all our annual nuclear and renewable generation to bring net emissions to zero.

The zero-carbon electricity that we buy for Residential, SME, Blue for Business or Renewable tariffs and products is supplied into the National Grid. Customers receive that electricity through the National Grid, not directly from zero-carbon generators.

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