Winds of Change: We Purchase 100% Renewable Energy in the US

All Samsung’s facilities in the United States, including its manufacturing and distribution sites, use renewable energy. This is how it works:

Samsung Semiconductor’s on-site rooftop solar array

Today, there are over 20,000 employees in the Samsung family across 46 states, with six major subsidiaries based in California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas.

The business lines of each of our staff facilities may also be completely different from each other, with varying requirements for each building. For instance, managing our offices at our Samsung Electronics America headquarters in New Jersey looks very different from managing our Samsung Semiconductor facility in Texas, or our Samsung Home Appliance Manufacturing Plant in South Carolina.

Samsung Home Appliances Manufacturing Facility in Newberry, SC

Regardless of the breadth and scope of our U.S. subsidiaries, they all have one thing in common:

All of our Samsung U.S. facilities use 100% renewable energy.

Our 100% renewable energy currently comes from sources like Wind, Solar, Biomass and Green-e® certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Since our 2018 commitment to switch all of our energy to renewables, our U.S. subsidiaries not only established wind power as an energy source, but together also installed solar power capacity, recovered biomass, and purchased Green-e® certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

For example, in 2019 our Samsung Austin Semiconductor manufacturing facility established 75 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy produced by a new large-scale wind farm. Our Samsung Semiconductor U.S. headquarters in San Jose additionally generates electricity from an on-site rooftop solar array. In 2020, 692,569 kilowatts (kWh) of energy were supplied by those solar panels.

Our Samsung U.S. subsidiaries also purchase Green-e® certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Green-e® certified renewable energy meets the highest standards in North America: it must be generated from new facilities that meet rigorous standards for environmental quality, marketed with complete transparency and accuracy, and delivered to a single purchaser, who has sole title. To explain why this is necessary in simple terms – energy doesn’t know where it came from once it was delivered to a larger shared power grid, so Green-e® certified RECs are an important and credible way to bring about more renewable energy by ensuring that the amount of energy used by a company has also been purchased from a certified, renewable source, and not double-counted. Naturally, the goal is that eventually the energy market becomes 100% renewable itself, so that RECs are rendered unnecessary.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor Facility

“Samsung Austin Semiconductor has been investing in Green energy since 2000*. Initially, we purchased Green-e certified RECs from local renewable sources to accomplish our 100% renewable goal. However, our true mission is to work with developers to add new, large-scale renewable generation sources to the Texas ERCOT grid to offset our load completely. Our goal is to claim 100% renewable power through new localized generation sources by early 2024,” says Jason Maas, Facilities Electrical Director at Samsung Austin Semiconductor.

Our close partnerships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) help us get this right.

Samsung has had a unique, long-standing partnership with the EPA. Here are some of our joint initiatives:

• With over 1.3 billion KWh of green power sourced in the U.S., Samsung is a leader in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership (GPP), a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among organizations to advance the American market for green power.
• Samsung is No. 8 on the EPA’s 100% Green Power User’s list and No. 8 on their Top 30 Tech and Telecom Partners list. Samsung also ranks #12 on the EPA’s National Top 100 Green Power Users list.
• Samsung won the Green Power Leadership Award from the EPA for substantially expanding our use of green power in the U.S. in 2019.
• Samsung has won the EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for Sustained Excellence eight times, including in 2021 the prestigious and rare “Corporate Commitment Award” for climate leadership in both products and operations – a recognition that was last granted nine years ago.
• Moreover, Samsung advances energy efficiency through innovative cutting-edge products such as our next-generation refrigeration products, which earned the EPA’s Emerging Technology Award for Advanced Adaptive Compressors in 2020 and again in 2021.
• Samsung partnered with the EPA in contributing to the development of the innovative new ENERGY STAR Tenant Space program for energy management improvements by tenants in leased building space, driving the industry forward on efficiency.

“EPA applauds Samsung Electronics for its leadership position in the green power marketplace,” said James Critchfield, Program Manager of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership. “Samsung Electronics is an excellent example for other organizations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through green power investment and use.”

Samsung is also part of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), established by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The World Resources Institute (RMI), and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance is a membership association for large-scale energy buyers seeking to procure renewable energy across the US. Their membership includes over 200 stakeholders from across the commercial and industrial sectors, non-profit organizations, and energy providers.

Optimization, teamwork, and growth are our next steps.

We’re proud that we’ve achieved 100% renewable energy use in all of our U.S. facilities, but there are always ways that we can grow.

“We will continue to diversify our investments here in the United States, prioritize the generation of additional renewable power grid capacity, and support other Samsung subsidiaries around the globe in their renewable energy strategies,” says Mark Newton, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Samsung Electronics America. “This shift to renewables across all of our business lines is exciting and means that we can support our customers’ net-zero goals and their desire to purchase products that are produced sustainably.”

* Samsung Austin Semiconductor has invested in renewable power through the Austin Energy Green Choice program since 2000.