I-Corps: Developing a National Market Platform for Trading Renewable Energy Certificates

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是消除可再生能源证书（RECs）交易的障碍，并进一步强调绿色能源生产的环境和可持续价值。RECS （NaMaREC）全国市场的广泛社会效益是通过社区太阳能和风力发电场等项目增加可再生能源技术的采用，从而减少碳足迹。当更多的可再生能源满足了不断增长的人口对能源的需求时，这种效益就会更高。可再生能源公用事业公司将从NaMaREC中受益，因为它将允许他们扩大消费者基础，并接触到可能愿意为证书支付更多费用的消费者。不可再生能源公用事业公司可以使用NaMaREC从更便宜的地区获取可再生能源，从而降低其合规成本。最终，NaMaREC将通过对潜在客户的广泛采访，为公众提供一个沟通可再生能源采用的经济途径。该项目将形成包括学术界、工业界和初创企业在内的合作伙伴关系，以启动NaMaREC。这个I-Corps项目旨在开发一个名为NaMaREC（全国可再生能源证书市场）的在线市场，用于销售和购买可再生能源证书。REC在美国是一种无形的、可交易的能源商品，代表1兆瓦时（MWh）的电力来自可再生能源的证明。目前，美国各地存在着孤立的RECs卖家或集成商，交易既不协调也不整合。NaMaREC的经营理念是在全国市场上利用RECs聚集的规模经济。RECs的潜在激励价值在于，美国的29个州和3个地区都有一项政策授权，要求公用事业公司在目标日期之前从太阳能光伏或风能技术等可再生资源中产生一定比例的产出。这些公司可以通过建设必要的可再生能源产能或购买RECs来满足可再生能源组合标准（RPS）的要求。RECs的孤立交易限制了它们的市场生存能力和企业满足其国家级RPS的可及性。NaMaREC将把RECs的交易转变为目前不存在的集成服务。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to eliminate the barriers to the trading of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and to further accentuate the environmental and sustainability value of green energy production. A broad societal benefit of a national market for RECS (NaMaREC) is the increased adoption of renewable energy technology through projects such as community solar and wind farms leading to reduction in carbon footprints. This benefit is higher when the increasing need for energy due to growing populations is satisfied with more renewable energy. Renewable utilities will benefit from NaMaREC since it will allow them to expand their consumer base and reach consumers that may be willing to pay more for the certificate. Nonrenewable utilities can use NaMaREC to source RECs from cheaper regions, thus reducing their cost of compliance. Ultimately, NaMaREC will provide an avenue to communicate the economics of renewable energy adoption to the public through extensive interviews of potential customers. This project will form partnerships that includes the academia, industry, and start-up ventures to launch NaMaREC. This I-Corps project seeks to develop an online marketplace named NaMaREC (National Market for Renewable Energy Certificates) for the selling and buying of RECs. A REC is a non-tangible, tradable energy commodity in the U.S. that represents proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from a renewable energy resource. Currently, there are isolated sellers or aggregators of RECs across the U.S. with trades that are neither harmonized nor integrated. The business thesis of NaMaREC is to harness the economics of scale in the aggregation of RECs in a national market. The underlying motivating value for RECs is that 29 states and three territories of the U.S. have a policy mandate that requires utilities to generate a certain percentage of their outputs from a renewable resource such as solar photovoltaic or wind technology by a target date. This mandate, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), may be satisfied by these companies either by building the requisite renewable energy capacity or buying RECs to satisfy the RPS requirements. Isolated transactions of RECs have limited their market viability and accessibility by firms to meet their state-level RPS. NaMaREC will transform the trading of RECs in an integrated service that does not currently exist.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.