Unlocking Hydro’s Potential in the Voluntary Energy Market: Identifying Opportunities, Overcoming Barriers

This workshop will bring together experts from the hydro industry and the voluntary market ecosystem—certification bodies, REC tracking systems, traders, and offtakers—for presentations and small group discussions on the growth areas for hydro in the voluntary market.

Each expert will cover fundamentals, opportunities, and new developments that are relevant for the hydro industry. The experts will also discuss areas where further work remains to turbocharge hydro’s participation in the voluntary market.

Following the expert presentations, the small group discussion portion of the workshop will be geared toward unpacking key takeaways and generating audience participation in developing actionable strategies to overcome barriers for hydro’s participation in the market.

Background on the Topic

Voluntary procurement for clean energy has eclipsed compliance-led procurement in the United States. Since 2014, voluntary procurements from corporate and institutional customers have driven over 84 GW of new clean energy capacity addition to the U.S. grid and, in 2023 alone, 9.7M customers procured 319 million MWh of renewable energy.

For project developers, voluntary markets offer additional revenue streams from voluntary Renewable Energy Credits and voluntary Power Purchase Agreements; a 2025 report prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that these additional revenues are in the order of billions of dollars.

As corporate and utility buyers ramp up their voluntary procurement of clean energy resources, hydropower is uniquely situated to meet the growing demand for 24/7 reliable generation.

Presenters

Surabhi Karambelkar

Faculty

Policy Director at Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI)