Pathways to the future of energy from a corporation that reinvented itself around climate
This interview is part of Greentown Labs’ Climatetech Leadership Series, which profiles C-level executives from our most committed and climate action-oriented partners.
At Greentown Labs, we work with corporations that see sustainability as core to their mission and make robust climate commitments. The leadership of large corporations is critical to society’s transition to a sustainable economy and to addressing climate change—these companies have both a major responsibility and the power to drive substantial change and climate action at scale.
ENGIE North America, an energy leader accelerating North America’s transition toward a carbon neutral economy, is a long-time Greentown Labs partner and recently became a Founding Partner of Greentown Houston. Starting five years ago, its parent company ENGIE S.A. sold €15 billion of its traditional energy assets and reinvested the funds in renewables and energy efficiency in order to accelerate the energy transition. As of the end of 2020, ENGIE North America added nearly 2 GW of renewable energy capacity in the US, bringing its total to more than 3 GW. Globally, ENGIE S.A. now has 31 GW of installed renewables capacity. The company centers its two pillars—utility-scale renewables and decentralized infrastructure—around people, planet, and profit. Their objective is really to combine for clients the offer of reducing energy consumption and greening the rest of the energy consumed.
This winter, I had the pleasure of speaking with ENGIE North America’s CEO Gwenaëlle Avice-Huet, a wonderful partner to Greentown and our startup community. Our conversation, which you can read about and watch below, focused on the optimism that we share, the future of electrification, and how we can get there.
Here are the biggest takeaways from our discussion, alongside quotes that stuck with me.
It’s possible to shift a large corporation’s focus to climate—and it can be done quickly.
“The company today is so different from what it was five years ago—and that’s exactly what we wanted. Our focus on climate brings together the company, the employees, the clients, the shareholders. It shows that it’s possible to reconcile economic performance with a positive impact on the planet.”
Corporate renewables procurement is driving the energy transition forward.
“There’s an increase in renewables being developed for corporates. There’s global momentum, and that makes me very optimistic. It’s taking ground in every kind of sector, and I think there is a tremendous market in corporate PPAs.”
Having many technologies working in harmony is key as the demand for 24/7 renewables increases.
“Our vision is not only to have the traditional renewables, but also to accelerate new renewables. We have to think about 24/7, green, reliable solutions, and to do that, we need to mix different technologies. We see an evolution of the requests from our clients; we see more and more requests that are 24/7. Reliability becomes one of the very important topics together with sustainability.”
There’s immense potential in green hydrogen, and we need to act on it now.
“Consider green hydrogen to be the missing link in the energy transition. It will be extremely relevant for hard-to-abate sectors. For example, in the chemical industry and in the refinery industry. They consume hydrogen for their processes, and at some point, they need to decarbonize—and the way to decarbonize is to turn gray hydrogen into green hydrogen.
The question is about cost and how to make it competitive. We have already seen a decrease in the cost of renewable hydrogen in Europe between 2015 and 2020—a decrease of 45 percent. Our vision is that it will be competitive with gray hydrogen or blue hydrogen by around 2030 in certain geographies. It’s very soon, and to make that possible we need to invest now.”
Renewable energy is a shared economic opportunity that can benefit local communities.
“Today, we have 3 GW of renewables in North America, which would be enough power for 1.3 million homes. Those projects have created over 3,000 jobs in rural communities during the pandemic. Renewable energy creates positive economic impact and helps workers move into new positions and skills. Looking ahead, we have 10 GW of additional renewable capacity in development right now, so this momentum will not stop.”
ENGIE is ready and eager to work with climatetech startups.
“Startups have a crucial role in boosting innovation. We continually search for ideas and expertise in the fields of renewable energy, energy storage, biogas, hydrogen, mobility, smart technologies, digital, and data management. We’re doing calls for projects and we encourage startups to apply. Our value proposition for startups is access to markets, access to expertise, access to capital, business partnership, and a positive image.”
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Emily Reichert is the CEO of Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, on a mission to support entrepreneurs tackling the biggest climate and environmental challenges.
Watch the full conversation below!