After countless “infrastructure weeks” and promises from politicians across the aisle to tackle the climate crisis, we are now seeing the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill move through Congress with billions of dollars earmarked for the nation’s clean energy network.

However important, this historic bill is only the start of what is needed to address the climate crisis at the required scope and scale. In addition to the public sector’s commitment to address energy challenges, we need to activate the private sector to further advance the green energy transition and transform the way communities are powered and built.   

At Calibrant Energy, we’re focusing our efforts on a critical component of our clean energy future – distributed energy delivered through the Energy as a Service (EaaS) model. EaaS provides businesses of all sizes access to fully integrated and managed green energy solutions with no up-front capital investment and no operational or performance responsibilities. The unique feature of the model is an inherent flexibility to incorporate a wide array of green energy technologies.  

Today, this could mean the deployment of solar, potential integration with battery storage and hybrid systems, microgrids, combined heat and power, along with centralized heating and/or cooling infrastructure upgrade solutions. Tomorrow, the picture could look very different with an entirely new emerging energy solution. The Biden Administration recently said it wants solar power to be 40% of electricity generation by 2035, up from 3% today. While the mix of utility vs. distributed energy has yet to be determined, we see this as a promising opportunity to increase the adoption of distributed solar.

“EaaS provides businesses of all sizes access to fully integrated and managed green energy solutions with no up-front capital investment and no operational or performance responsibilities.

The next decade will be both critical and transformative for the global energy market. EaaS models will play an increasingly important role in accelerating the energy transition by allowing businesses and institutions to incorporate more green energy technologies and have those built, financed, delivered and operated on their behalf without distraction from core business operations.

In addition, new clean energy technologies are emerging that will further diversify our energy sources and drive new efficiencies, allowing for the delivery and management of those new technologies with immediate cost savings, lower emissions, and increased resilience for our partners.

In the future, entire cities will be built with clean, connected and community-based energy models, with customers both generating and consuming energy. Bringing this vision to reality will require greater cooperation among governments, businesses, investors, and citizens as well as increased technical and financial support.

Distributed energy systems such as those delivered by Calibrant give businesses and communities the power, customization, guidance, and financing to transition their energy infrastructure with the newest, clean energy technologies to make clean cities a reality.

Chris Archer is the Head of Americas at Green Investment Group and is also part of Calibrant Energy Board of Directors.