MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, CleanCounts, the nonprofit energy attribute tracking system, announced forthcoming features in its registry platform including hourly tracking/granular certificates and additional enhancements that distinguish renewable energy projects and contribute to more local benefits. The capability to provide enhanced Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), including renewable energy certificates (RECs), serves growing interest from the voluntary corporate procurement market for projects that provide benefits beyond energy generation.
“Since we rebuilt our software from scratch in 2017, we have demonstrated how to be a trusted pioneer and drive innovations that enable more advanced claims with regard to clean and renewable energy use,” said Benjamin Gerber, President and CEO of CleanCounts. “CleanCounts spearheaded the very first hourly REC in 2021, the first green hydrogen certificate in 2022, and the first pollinator-friendly solar REC in 2023, and it's through our platform that we continue to provide the precision and transparency needed for both voluntary and compliance claims of renewable energy output.”
As the largest clean energy registry in North America, CleanCounts provides the registry infrastructure used by utilities, renewable energy generators, and corporate buyers for RECs, along with their generation and retirement. The platform helps ensure renewable energy generation and attribute ownership are tracked transparently and credibly. More than 40% of the RECs on the continent are issued by CleanCounts registry software, and the platform has issued more than 2 billion energy attribute certificates.
The forthcoming capabilities CleanCounts is highlighting are:
Hourly-Matched Granular Certificates: For project developers looking to provide more granular tracking capabilities and for corporate buyers seeking to match electricity use to renewable generation hour by hour, CleanCounts is inviting clean energy developers and corporations that want to be part of the first wave of onboarding and testing these features. CleanCounts facilitated the first-ever hourly renewable energy certificate claim in its M-RETS registry platform when Google finalized an hourly REC retirement in January 2021. CleanCounts’ pilot with Google on the time-based certificates won a Green Power Leadership Award, presented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS). Since then, CleanCounts has spearheaded 24/7 tracking innovation to bring hourly matching to the broader renewable energy industry.
RECs from Tribally Sited Projects: Federally recognized Tribal entities have worked with wind, solar, and hydropower developers for many years, and these projects have produced RECs that are stamped with the verified energy production data. Looking ahead, CleanCounts will work with Seneca Environmental, a tribally owned business of the Seneca Nation, and invites other tribal entities to add data directly to the RECs indicating whether projects are located on the lands of Federally recognized tribal entities.
RECs from Low Impact Certified Hydropower: Renewable energy certificates with the LIHI Certified® attributes attached confirm the hydropower facilities operate in a manner that reduces harm to fish migration, provides benefits to river ecosystems and local communities, and meets all the certification requirements of the Low-Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI), a third-party nonprofit organization. LIHI Certified® hydropower projects demonstrate stewardship beyond megawatt generation: over the years, these projects have protected over 1200 miles of rivers across the U.S., preserved thousands of acres of land for conservation, offer school education and recreational opportunities free of charge, and invest in innovations that make projects better for safe fish passage.
Agrisolar and pollinator-friendly solar: When Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory surveyed nearly 1,000 people living within three miles of a solar project, neighbors of agrisolar, grazed, and pollinator-friendly sites stood out as the most positive, with favorable views outnumbering negative ones by more than seven to one. CleanCounts has demonstrated market interest in RECs that include data indicating that a project meets Minnesota’s Board of Water and Soil Resources Habitat Friendly Solar standard—including recent recognition of pollinator-friendly RECs with a 2026 Green Power Leadership Award. The American Solar Grazing and Growing Association (www.ASGA.org) and National Lab of the Rockies are two of the initial partners working with CleanCounts on methods that will enable CleanCounts to attach relevant information about projects’ agricultural uses to the certificates.
“Collaboration is a core value at CleanCounts,” said Rob Davis, Head of Communications, Partnerships, and Market Insights for CleanCounts. “Attaching more than just megawatts-generated data to the Energy Attribute Certificates we issue is a way we are helping drive our industry and build trust in both energy-related claims and the otherwise invisible registry software infrastructure that support those claims.”
“Hydropower is often treated as a single, undifferentiated resource in renewable energy markets, even though the environmental performance of individual facilities can vary significantly,” said Surabhi Karambelkar, Policy Director at the Low Impact Hydropower Institute. “By making LIHI Certification visible in the CleanCounts registry, buyers can more easily identify hydropower projects that meet rigorous environmental criteria and deliver environmental improvements as well as megawatts. As companies increasingly align their energy purchasing decisions with broader environmental and social goals, greater transparency can help build a more impactful renewable energy market.”
CleanCounts is highlighting its forthcoming clean energy registry features at a New York Climate Week event, “Rural America & The Clean Energy Transition,” hosted by Canary Media and jointly presented with CleanCounts, MacArthur Foundation, GoodPower, Advanced Energy United, Invest in Our Future, Rural Climate Partnership, McKnight Foundation, Outrider Foundation, and Solar Energy Industries Association.
The Sept. 22 event includes two panels convened by CleanCounts:
- Megawatts and More: How communities can see and measure the benefits of clean energy
- What works in agrisolar: Lessons from the field and from local communities
The event food and beverage menus are being prepared by James Beard nominated rural chefs Mateo Mackbee and Erin Lucas to use and highlight ingredients sourced from solar farms throughout the country. A married couple, chefs Mackbee and Lucas were previously profiled on the front page of the New York Times food section.
To learn more about CleanCounts and its work, visit www.cleancounts.org.
About CleanCounts
CleanCounts is North America’s most expansive clean energy registry and a trusted gateway to environmental markets. As a nonprofit organization, CleanCounts empowers participants across the energy ecosystem to track, trade, and validate clean energy production and consumption with confidence and transparency. CleanCounts’ cross-function teams have a combined 510 years of software experience and 117 years of clean energy registry-specific experience. Learn more at www.CleanCounts.org.
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