On November 19, 2020, Energy Peace Partners (EPP), a coalition that leverages climate finance solutions to support peace in places affected by violent conflict, announced that the first-ever Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-REC) transaction was executed by Microsoft with EPP and project developer Nuru. In the agreement, Microsoft is purchasing P-RECs issued by EPP from a new solar project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which will directly finance the installation of streetlights in a recently electrified neighborhood of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The streetlights are connected to the same solar-plus-storage system that generates the electricity associated with the P-RECs. The transaction was facilitated by renewable energy, transportation decarbonization, and climate solutions specialist 3Degrees. Wilson Sonsini served as pro bono legal counsel to EPP in the transaction.

P-RECs are international renewable energy certificates (I-RECs) with a supplementary label from issuer EPP certifying the co-benefits associated with the new renewable energy generation. P-REC projects are located in countries that are characterized by high risk of conflict, high vulnerability to climate change, low levels of electrification, and limited access to renewable energy finance. The agreement with Nuru requires that the majority of funds from the sale of P-RECs support a project that creates social and economic co-benefits in that community. Microsoft is the first company to execute a P-REC transaction.

The P-RECs purchased by Microsoft will be issued by EPP from Congolese solar developer Nuru’s newly commissioned 1.3 MW commercial solar-plus-storage project in Goma’s Ndosho neighborhood. Goma is located in conflict-affected eastern DRC, where only 3 percent of residents have access to electricity in many neighborhoods. Microsoft’s P-REC purchase allowed Nuru to fund the construction of mini-grid-connected streetlights in Ndosho, a community impact project co-designed with local stakeholders. Installation of the streetlights was completed earlier this year and has already improved nighttime road safety and neighborhood security, allowing businesses to stay open later at night, and reduced reliance on diesel generators, which are both expensive and highly polluting, in an area that has never had grid infrastructure.

A multidisciplinary Wilson Sonsini pro bono team led by has represented EPP since its inception.

For more information, please see EPP's press release.