FAQ

EACs

  1. What's an EAC?

    An EAC is an Energy Attribute Certificate, which represents a unique claim to the environmental benefits of energy decarbonization projects. EACs are watt-hour tracking instruments that specify all attributes of clean energy, including resource type, production time and location, local grid carbon emissions intensity, resource operation start date, and related market and contract information.

    Read more on our blog.

  2. What’s the difference between an EAC and a REC?

    If a REC represents the generic environmental attributes of a megawatt-hour of clean energy production, an EAC represents the full scope of environmental and social benefits associated with clean energy. By providing visibility into specific attributes like carbon impact and hour of the day, EACs enable clean energy buyers to be more strategic with their investments, and ensure that they’re making the greatest impact.

    Read more on our blog.

  3. What are the units of measurement in an EAC?

    All EACs are tracked in units of watt-hours, following established industry methodologies. Every watt-hour is time stamped and tied to a particular asset location. EACs also quantify carbon reductions to the gram. The average consumed emissions intensity, as measured by the United States Energy Information Agency for the local balancing authority for the hour of the day, is used to calculate the carbon load of each watt-hour of electricity.


Buying EACs

  1. What can I buy from WEATS EAC market?

    You can buy EACs from distributed clean energy projects including rooftop solar, demand response, energy efficiency, battery storage and electrification. Groups of EACs are bundled by specific attributes, such as by location, date range, and type of resource. EACs include all energy attributes so you can know the exact impact of your purchase.

  2. Does WattCarbon support hourly, 24/7 clean energy procurement?

    Yes! WEATS EACs are generated by the hour and procurements include information about the precise operation start date of each EAC-generating asset. If you are interested in procuring specific hours please reach out to us directly and we can create a custom procurement for you.

  3. What is a vPPA for distributed energy resources?

    vPPAs for DERs enable any organization to scale the deployment of new clean energy projects that meet their unique climate goals. Organizations commit to buying the total aggregated EACs for the resource lifespans. The EAC capital is used to lower consumer costs, reducing barriers and accelerating deployment. New projects are developed & clean energy goes online within months.

    When contracting a vPPA for DERs, an organization may focus on specific attributes that are important to their goals, including targeting any US market, optimizing for grid carbon intensity, or expanding access to the social & equity benefits of distributed clean energy.

  4. How does WattCarbon aggregate distributed energy projects?

    WattCarbon unifies distributed energy resource suppliers across the United States with organizations looking to procure EACs to meet their clean energy goals. When contracting vPPAs, WattCarbon works with organizations to understand their procurement volume and attribute preferences, and facilitates fulfillment of that procurement by working with one or several DER supplier partners to aggregate new clean energy projects. All projects are registered in The WattCarbon Energy Attribute Tracking System (WEATS), and EACs for every watt-hour of clean energy are delivered to the procuring organization.

Selling EACs

  1. Which are the eligibility requirements to register my Assets?

    The installation of the Asset needs to be fully completed. For example, your solar panels would need to be installed and producing electricity to qualify.

    You must own the rights to the non-power Attributes of the installed Asset. Generally, the non-power Attributes are owned by the building/device owner unless specified otherwise in the contract.

  2. What is an "Asset"?

    An Asset is the term describing the energy intervention that results in EACs, such as a solar panel, battery, demand response event, or building that underwent an energy efficiency upgrade.

  3. Can I register not-yet-completed projects on the registry?

    No, only completed projects are able to generate EACs for immediate purchase. Our market does facilitate pre-orders for the future EACs that will be created by a registered Asset.

    If you're interested in financing not-yet-started projects, please speak with us about structuring a vPPA.

  4. Can I receive EACs retroactively for dates preceding when I registered my Assets?

    Yes, we can back-date and mint EACs to the Operation/Activation Date of the Asset. WattCarbon cannot create EACs that would have been generated earlier than January 1st, 2023.

  5. How do I set the price for my EACs?

    You may set one price per Asset that applies to past EACs as well as any future-generated EACs from that Asset. You can update the sell-price at any time.

    You also have the option to auto-list EACs into the market at a set price as they are minted — “set and forget” to passively generate revenue.

  6. What if my customers own the rights to the EACs?

    Great! You may leverage WEATS as a new market opportunity that your company can unlock for your customers. Your customers may register their own Assets, or you can register and manage them on your customers’ behalf.

  7. Can I list Assets that are already listed on other registries?

    Yes. You may list Assets on our market without having to de-register them on another registry. When the EACs are purchased on the WattCarbon marketplace, the original REC will be retired and reissued in an hourized EAC format into the buyer’s account.

  8. What data is required to mint EACs? How do you calculate carbon savings?

    Each resource type uses a different measurement and verification methodology. For ​​Solar and Batteries, we collect inverter-based metered electricity data. For demand response, we collect market settlement data. For electrification, we model energy savings based either on pre-project baseline consumption or building square footage.

    While we do measurement and verification for a range of resource types, we are supportive of our suppliers using their own carbon savings M&V and sending WattCarbon savings data instead of the raw energy data. To do this, you can submit their methodology to the OpenEAC Alliance for approval.

  9. Can I register retrofit projects as well as new construction?

    Yes, although the methodology for calculating emissions savings will differ.

Carbon Accounting

  1. What does it mean to retire my EACs and how do I do that?

    "Retiring" an EAC means that you retain ownership of it in perpetuity; it cannot be sold to someone else. Only the party that "retires" the EAC can claim the environmental benefits in a sustainability report. For example, when a business says it is "powered by 100% clean electricity", it means it either produced or purchased and retired a number of EACs equal to its power consumption.

    You may retire your EACs from your “EAC Management” tab when logged into your account. WattCarbon provides full functionality for hourly EAC and REC management.

  2. If I want to retire some of my EACs but not all of them, can I do that?

    Yes. EACs in your account are grouped in hourly increments. You may retire or sell any hourly combination of EACs.

  3. How do you calculate the carbon emissions associated with renewable energy and demand response?

    WattCarbon uses publicly available data provided by the United States Energy Information Agency sourced from daily reports provided by the 65 balancing authorities that manage grids across the United States. The EIA calculates a consumed carbon intensity for each grid for each hour of the day using open source methods for estimating the carbon intensity of imported and exported energy alongside energy produced and consumed within a grid. The consumed carbon emissions divides total emissions by total electric consumption for each hour of the day and is reported in grams/kWh.

    Our methodologies are open-source and supported by the OpenEAC Alliance. The OpenEAC Alliance is an industry group formed to ensure quality, consistency and transparency in distributed energy resource (DERs) measurement and verification.

  4. How does WattCarbon ensure that EACs are not counted twice?

    WattCarbon’s registry prevents double counting by assigning a unique ID for every watt-hour for each EAC, and co-registering & retiring the certificates across other registries. The unique identifier enables WattCarbon to identify the specific source and timing of the Environmental Attribute Right and allows for complete auditability for all transactions. The registry is designed to maintain compliance with the requirements of existing standards, such as the GHG Protocol.