We’ve used fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas for over 150 years to drive industrialization and economic growth. These energy sources provide almost 80% of the energy the world uses.
Unfortunately, we’ve relied so much on fossil fuels that we have created the current climate crisis. The greenhouse gases from burning these sources continue to push the Earth’s temperature beyond pre-industrial periods. As a result, we’re experiencing more weather-related disturbances, species loss, food scarcity, expanding diseases, and poverty and displacement.
Preventing those trends from worsening means replacing fossil fuels with alternative energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, geotherm, and biomass. The good news is that more companies are paving the way to make that happen.
We have identified ten companies tapping into the power of renewable sources and making it available to the public. These companies are also helping other businesses meet their net zero emissions goals while continuously innovating their products and services and offering investment possibilities.
1. NextEra Energy
For over three decades, NextEra Energy has been harnessing the power of solar and wind energy and providing it to different clients, including industrial corporations, electricity providers, and power cooperatives. It also delivers energy storage solutions, ensuring consistent and reliable energy supply to customers.
NextEra Energy’s commitment to sustainability doesn’t end in making renewable energy more accessible. It also made an industry-leading goal in 2022 called “Real Zero,” which aims to completely eliminate carbon emissions throughout its operations no later than 2045 without passing the cost to its customers.
Since that announcement, the company has continued growing its investments in clean energy and ramping up the environmental inspections and audits of its facilities.
2. Brookfield Renewable Partners LLP
Brookfield Renewable Partners LLP is a renowned provider of renewable power and decarbonization solutions. Using over 100 years of operational experience, the company invests, operates, and develops renewable power-generating facilities in more than 30 countries across five continents. Its portfolio, totaling $900+ billion, encompasses hydro, wind, and solar power and other sustainable solutions that help businesses transition into clean energy.
As part of its efforts to make meaningful contributions to reducing global emissions, Brookfield Renewable aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 across its portfolio. The company’s operating levers to achieve that goal include using green energy to power all its businesses, decarbonization investments, electrification of processes to reduce fossil fuel reliance, use of green technologies, and cessation of activities contributing to GHG emissions.
3. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy saw the potential of bringing nature and engineering together to produce clean energy. Four decades later, the company turned that vision into reality by using wind power to light up homes, schools, hospitals, and factories across the globe.
As the only company in the wind energy sector to operate at a global scale, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy provides a variety of solutions and services, including onshore and offshore wind energy, advanced diagnostics, repair and maintenance of power plants, power storage, and digitalization, integration, and optimization of assets.
On top of its solutions and services, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy also engages in various sustainability activities that benefit its employees, the environment, and the communities in which it operates. These include community engagement projects to alleviate poverty, tree planting and clean-up drives for carbon and digital footprint reductions, and technological education for the coming generations.
4. Vestas Wind Systems
Another company that’s delivering wind power solutions is Vestas Wind Systems from Denmark. The company started out as a blacksmith workshop in 1898, providing hydraulic cranes to more than 60 countries. It quickly became a modern exporter and eventually one of the world’s biggest wind energy manufacturers and providers.
Today, Vestas Wind System is involved in various wind energy and hybrid projects in over 80 countries. It offers design, manufacture, installation, development, and servicing solutions for wind turbines. Its expertise has helped establish +177 GW of wind turbines, which have prevented the global emission of 1.9 billion tons³ of CO₂.
5. Ørsted
Ørsted is another Danish renewable energy company specializing in offshore wind farm development, construction, and operation. It is the world’s largest offshore wind power developer, with 25 offshore wind farms across Europe, the USA, and Asia under its belt. These include Taiwan’s Greater Changhua offshore wind farm, the largest of its kind in Asia, South Fork Wind, New York’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, and the Hornsea, the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm located in the UK.
Beyond its wind farm services, Ørsted also operates solar centers, renewable hydrogen facilities, bioenergy plants, and energy storage facilities. These solutions are part of the company’s goal to move away from fossil fuels completely and support the world’s transition to renewable energy.
In 2017, Ørsted divested its oil and gas business and dropped its former name, DONG (Danish Oil and Natural Gas) Energy. It has reduced CO2 emissions by over 80% in the last decade by phasing out its coal and gas facilities. By 2040, the company aims to reach net zero emissions across its entire operation.
6. First Solar
First Solar, an American solar technology company, provides eco-efficient solar modules to clients worldwide. Unlike the world’s ten largest solar manufacturers that produce their products in China, First Solar keeps its manufacturing local on US soil. As of this writing, First Solar has 3 operational factories in Ohio, USA, and a fourth American manufacturing facility is expected to be completed in the US Southeast in 2025. It has two other facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam.
First Solar’s advanced thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules are a step up from other solar technologies as they do not use conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si). Instead, they feature a layer of Cadmium Telluride (CadTel) semiconductor sourced from the byproducts of copper and zinc mining. This gives the modules a higher theoretical efficiency limit and superior scalability while being more economical than conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV panels.
First Solar has completed many of the largest grid-connected PV power plants in the world. These include the Agua Caliente Solar Project in Yuma, Arizona, the Hindupur Solar Power Plant in Hindupur Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, and the Luz Del Norte in Copiapó, Chile, among others.
7. Canadian Solar
Founded in 2001, Canadian Solar Inc. is a major provider of solar energy and energy storage solutions. It designs, manufactures, and sells solar modules, system kits, and inverters for commercial, industrial, and residential clients. The company also develops large-scale power plants and battery storage projects through its subsidiary, Recurrent Energy.
With over 26 manufacturing facilities in the Americas and Asia, Canadian Solar is able to deliver its products and services to clients in more than 160 countries. So far, it has shipped 124GW of solar modules and 125W of battery storage worldwide. It continues to enhance the vertical integration in its manufacturing processes to boost its production capacities and enhance its long-term competitive edge.
8. Enel Green Power
Italian company Enel Green Power is one of the world’s biggest renewable energy producers, with 63.6 GW capacity. It taps into the four elements–water, sun, wind, and heat from the earth–to offer sustainable and reliable energy to its clients from Europe and North America to Oceania and beyond.
Since its founding in 2008 within the Enel Group, Enel Green Power has developed and managed over 1,300 power plants across five continents. It has several operative and under-construction assets in 19 countries and operates assets in the development phase within five countries.
Decarbonized energy is just the first step for Enel Green Power to help usher in a new era of sustainability. It has also committed to complying with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, making it a compass for all its activities. With that, the company has been working closely with its suppliers to ensure the components it uses and the infrastructures it builds are socially, environmentally, and economically responsible. It also works with local communities on various environmental and social projects.
9. Iberdrola
Headquartered in Spain, Iberdrola has led the energy revolution for over two decades, offering clean energy, grids, and storage. The company focuses on wind energy, investing in multiple operational and commissioned offshore wind facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. It has diversified its renewable energy portfolio to include pumped hydro and solar energy.
As an active agent of sustainability, Iberdola has integrated different environmental and social factors within its strategic plan. These include goals to make zero emissions in its generation plants by 2030 and in its activities by 2040. It also targets to create 10,000 jobs globally by 2026 and strengthen its commitment to gender equality.
10. EDF Renewables
EDF Renewables is the renewable energy arm of EDF Group, boasting a green electricity capacity of 30 TWh. The company develops, constructs, and operates onshore and offshore wind farms, solar power plants, and energy storage facilities. It has a presence in more than 20 countries where it creates value for a diverse mix of clients, including property owners, farmers, businesses, and communities.
EDF Renewables considers the renewable nature of its energy as a starting point for its contributions against climate change. That is why the company implements various sustainable development activities to complement its renewable solutions. These include conducting in-depth impact studies before developing its projects, coordinating with different authorities where its projects are located, ensuring a responsible supply chain, and implementing effective life cycle management practices.
Final Thoughts
As the environmental, social, and economic consequences of our reliance on fossil fuels are things we can no longer ignore, it’s clear that we need to put an end to our use of these sources completely. The good news is that more companies are heeding the call for alternative energy sources that are cleaner, sustainable, reliable, and affordable. The 10 we have listed above are just some of them.
In its 2021 Global Energy Review, the International Energy Agency noted that the market share of renewable energy sources in global power generation was 29%. Hopefully, with the innovation and continued efforts of renewable energy companies to make their solutions more accessible and with more supportive policies put in place, we’ll be able to double those numbers in the coming years. It would even be better if we could make our global energy electricity generation sources 100% renewable to limit global warming to 1.5°C and avert the worst impacts of climate change.
