As energy demand surges and emissions scrutiny deepens, companies want more than basic REC compliance, they want enriched data: granular insights like time, location, vintage, grid carbon intensity, and commissioning date. This shift is redefining clean energy procurement and powering the rise of hourly RECs and carbon-aware strategies.
Electricity prices are and energy demand are rising. Companies and utilities are moving beyond annual clean energy claims. They're adopting granular RECs procurement strategies to align renewable use with real-time consumption, creating new standards for accountability, transparency, and traceability. Innovo is helping to service these rising needs with 16+ meta data points, adding strategy and transparency to all energy purchases.
Enriched data refers to contextual, high-resolution attributes layered on top of standard RECs. It includes time stamps, hourly matching, grid mix, vintage year, carbon intensity, and project metadata like commissioning date and location. These data points allow companies to trace not just that energy was clean, but when, where, and how clean it was.
Traditional unbundled renewable energy certificates (REC) procurement offers a broad brush: buyers can claim 100% clean energy use annually while relying on fossil fuels during nights or peak hours. But rising power prices, AI infrastructure, and electrification are forcing a change. Enriched data around the RECs used ensures energy use is backed by clean generation at the exact time it’s consumed,
Time-stamped RECs with layered attributes offer better alignment with sustainability goals, energy consumption patterns, and Scope 2 reporting accuracy. Companies want to prove clean energy usage in real time.
Corporates and utilities subject to state mandated RPS reporting requirements are prioritizing these clean energy data attributes:
Hour-by-hour timestamps to align usage with generation
Grid region and carbon intensity to assess emissions impact
Project vintage and commissioning date (COD) to verify new build vs. legacy offsets
Facility location matching for regulatory and impact reporting
Technology type (e.g., solar vs. wind vs. nuclear) for internal standards and stakeholder trust
These data points provide decision-grade transparency across clean energy portfolios.
Protocols like RE100, SBTi, and the GHG Protocol are pushing for more precise energy tracking. These frameworks increasingly emphasize time- and location-specific accounting. Time-stamped RECs are no longer optional for companies looking to meet “24/7 carbon-free” goals, they’re foundational. Enriched data supports granular emissions modeling, third-party validation, and compliance with evolving disclosure norms.
The Global Renewables Alliance has identified key steps to scale real-time energy markets:
Policy and market reform to enable issuance of time-stamped, attribute-rich RECs
Grid and storage investment to make clean energy available when needed
Corporate leadership to create demand for more transparent, data-rich instruments
As BloombergNEF noted, data transparency is a precondition for these mechanisms to function.
Corporate clean energy procurement is hitting record highs, with a new emphasis on specificity. In May 2025, companies led by Meta signed long-term clean energy deals totaling over 2.8 GW. In the Americas, clean energy purchases are outpacing 2024 levels, driven by tech-sector demand for precision sourcing. Asia-Pacific is developing hourly REC frameworks to support real-time matching. EMEA markets are leaning into vintage-specific procurement.
This shift is critical because real-time energy loads are growing faster than clean energy availability. Data centers, AI training, and electrified industries are fueling a new kind of demand, one that fluctuates by the hour and is highly sensitive to regional grid emissions. Without granular and transparent data around purchased energy, companies can’t match their operational profile to energy use in a meaningful way.
The global REC market is expected to grow 10x from $9.3B in 2020 to $103B by 2030. This surge is driven not just by more volume, but by better data. Buyers increasingly want RECs that come with full context: when they were generated, where they originated, how clean the grid was, and whether the project is new or legacy. In short, they want data, not just certificates.
This is a systemic rebuild of how energy procurement and emissions tracking work. Clean energy is now core infrastructure and enriched data is the foundation for trust and performance. As electricity loads become more intelligent and carbon budgets tighten, hourly and context-rich RECs are becoming the new default.
Companies are already pushing 2025’s tally close to the record 16.8 gigawatts announced at the same point last year, according to BloombergNEF.
It starts with digitized procurement and attribute-aware infrastructure. At Innovo, we help companies move beyond basic RECs to energy strategies backed by rich metadata: timestamps, grid emissions, project details, and more. Whether you’re sourcing for compliance, annual reporting, or real-time emissions reduction, we can help you build a smarter, more transparent energy stack.
Enriched data is the new standard. Let’s build around it.