RPD Energy Joins List of Global Signatories of 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact

RPD Energy has developed the most comprehensive 24/7 CFE solution to date, enabling Iron Mountain Inc. to achieve hourly coverage ratios in excess of 93% with mix of wind and small hydro-renewable generation assets

Houston, TX: RPD Energy, the nation’s leading provider of innovative renewable energy solutions,
is honored to become the newest signatory to the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact, an ambitious global initiative to accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s electricity systems to mitigate climate change and ensure access to clean and affordable electricity for all. In support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), Compact signatories commit to having their electricity consumption come from carbon-free energy sources, every hour of every day, according to a set of principles binding stakeholders across the energy ecosystem in the shared pursuit of driving systemic change.

“Achieving the transition to a fully decarbonized electricity sector calls for a concerted effort to develop and scale energy policies, technologies, procurement, and solutions to transform the energy ecosystem so that 24/7 carbon-free energy is available to all,” said Eric Alam, CEO of RPD Energy. “Understanding that to affect macro-level change, pioneers must practice the art of the possible in smaller bites, companies like Iron Mountain are accelerating scalability by adopting our 24/7 CFE solution. Their results demonstrate the progress that is achievable with clean energy and enabling technologies.”

In late 2021, Iron Mountain, Inc. (NYSE:IRM) challenged RPD Energy to deliver a transformative solution to help the global storage and information management services company meet its goal of using 100% renewable energy to meet its net-zero target. In 2022, RPD Energy responded by designing the broadest and most comprehensive 24/7 CFE hourly load-matching solution in the market. The solution encompasses over 250 metered locations (both data center and non-data center) across nine states and three ISO regions, delivering over 93% hourly coverage supplied by wind and small hydro-renewable generation assets across all hours for all Iron Mountain facilities, with the vast majority of hours being served at a 100% load to generation match.

RPD Energy delivered its 24/7 CFE solution through a retail contract rather than a traditional Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), creating more flexibility and less volumetric and commodity price risk for Iron Mountain. Other collaborators included Eagle Creek Renewables through their affiliates, in addition to Leeward Energy, Scoville Risk Partners, Axpo U.S. and Cleartrace.

“Where conventional wisdom states that the intermittent nature of renewable energy cannot meet hourly load and that balancing consumption and generation with renewables is too complicated and not transactable, we and our partners understand that large-scale transformation does not happen by relying on conventional wisdom,” said Alam. “The solution for Iron Mountain proves that renewable energy has the capacity to meet hourly load across all hours with the right elements and collaboration. It also proves renewable energy can power a portfolio of data center operations under a retail contract rather than a series of complicated PPA agreements that involve significant risk to the buyer.”

In May 2023, WRI recognized the solution in its article, “The State of 24/7 Carbon-free Energy: Recent Progress and What to Watch,” referencing Iron Mountain’s goal to achieve “100% renewable energy use around-the-clock” in partnership with RPD Energy. One month later, RPD Energy earned the Top Project of the Year Award in the Environment + Energy Leader Awards program for its exemplary leadership in creating Iron Mountain’s 24/7 CFE Solution.

“Businesses today are increasingly focused on decarbonizing across their entire value chain, said Chris Pennington, Director of Energy and Sustainability at Iron Mountain Data Centers. “As a critical component of our customers’ supply chain, we fully demonstrate our ability to help them achieve their carbon reduction goals. These efforts support our 24/7 carbon-free energy goal of meeting our electricity needs with locally produced clean energy, every hour of each day, helping our organization reach its target of net zero GHG emissions.”