ENGIE North America’s Regional VP of Key Accounts and Energy Taymur Bunkheila says a recent agreement with Aker BioMarine is indicative of a broader strategy the firm is pursuing with more granular renewable energy agreements.

Earlier this summer, ENGIE announced the signing of a 24/7 renewable energy agreement with human health and nutrition company Aker BioMarine. The agreement includes renewable energy certificates that link each unit of electricity consumed to power generated from named renewable energy projects with approximately 90% of consumption matched hourly with local generation.

The agreement is anchored by ENGIE’s Impact Solar project in Lamar County, Texas, though the release indicates other projects are also involved. Bunkheila declined to disclose what other projects are involved.

NPM Data is tracking 18 operational projects with a combined capacity of over 3 GW in Lamar County, Texas, though none are linked to ENGIE.

Bunkheila did expand on what is offered through ENGIE’s 24/7 product, which he says is enabled through upstream PPAs that deliver site-specific energy and RECs from a mix of ENGIE-owned and third-party wind and solar assets helping support more granular renewable energy matching. He said this portfolio approach “helps align renewable energy supply with customer demand across more hours of the day throughout the year, providing a more consistent renewable energy profile than a single project or technology alone.”

Bunkheila notes that while Aker BioMarine is an early adopter of this approach, this is not a one-off developed solely for them with 24/7 agreements “a strategic priority for ENGIE and an area where we continue to invest.” He also said he wanted to emphasize the agreement is part of a broader trend from offtakers across the US.

“Customers are increasingly looking for sophisticated energy solutions that support their organizational, financial and energy management objectives and ENGIE continues to work with organizations across a variety of sectors to meet those needs,” Bunkheila said. “As interest grows in moving beyond annual renewable energy accounting toward more granular, time-based emissions reductions strategies, we believe this model has the potential to serve a broad set of organizations across multiple sectors.”

Where the approach may not yet apply, though, is with data centers which Bunkheila notes often have capacity requirements that are too high to be filled by a 24/7 agreement like the one signed with Aker BioMarine. For these customers, he says ENGIE is providing “more specialized solutions that leverage our broader portfolio of renewable generation, energy management and risk management capabilities.”

However, rather than viewing these disparate approaches as competing, Bunkheila says ENGIE views them as “complementary offerings designed to meet the loads of different customer segments.”

The agreement is a new development in what has been a busy year for ENGIE, though many of the firm’s announcements have been focused on markets beyond the US. This was acknowledged formally by ENGIE CEO Catherine MacGregor in the firm’s May earnings call where she noted that new additions for the quarter had focused on markets outside the US thanks to “difficulties in the US” driven by the Trump administration’s efforts to disrupt project siting.

That said, Bunkheila said the US “remains a core market for ENGIE and an important part of our long-term growth strategy,” and that the firm will have more announcements in the states “as additional projects and customer agreements move forward.”

“The pace and visibility of project announcements can vary by market including differences in regulatory and permitting processes, customer demand and project development timelines,” Bunkheila said. “Activity may be more visible in some regions than others at any given time, but ENGIE continues to see significant opportunities in the US and remains committed to investing in solutions that help meet the country’s growing energy needs.”

NPM is tracking 78 pre-operational projects from ENGIE in the US with a combined capacity of nearly 17.5 GW. Four projects reached an advanced stage in the last 12 months including three tranches of the firm’s Santa Fe Wind project in Ford and Hodgeman Counties, Kansas as well as 450 MW Dolphin Solar in Fountain County, Indiana.