Corporations have dramatically increased their purchases of renewable energy in recent years. This trend has shifted the traditional power purchase market away from reliance upon utilities, and presents a tremendous growth opportunity for renewable energy project developers.

From 2012 to 2015, contracted capacity under corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) has doubled year-over-year. In 2015, corporate PPAs achieved an important milestone by exceeding 50% of the overall PPA market — more than their traditional utility counterparts. Corporate buyers (including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Dow, Owens Corning, Apple and many others) contracted for almost 3.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy PPA capacity in 2015. Corporate PPAs have historically favored wind energy, but solar energy PPAs are increasingly entering the mix.