A share of an existing contract, delivered by a renewable generator and recorded for every MWh.
This deck explains how SPARC works when it is used to gradually reduce fossil fuel output under existing power contracts. A share of the contract is assigned to a renewable generator, the generator delivers it, and every delivered MWh leaves a record.
SPARC does not buy out a fossil plant or change its contract. The PPA stays in place, with the same parties and the same terms.
Behind it, the plant operator agrees with a renewable generator to deliver a share of the contracted power, registered as a SPARC stream. The fossil plant, often a coal plant, produces that much less.
A SPARC stream is not one fixed product. It can be 24/7 firm, with the same amount every hour of the day, or 12-hour firm, covering a set window. It can also be shaped, following renewable output smoothed by a small battery.
The shape depends on what the fossil plant operator is willing to trade and what the renewable generator can deliver. The firmer the stream, the more the renewable generator takes on.
The same amount of power in every hour of the day.
The same amount of power in every hour of a set 12-hour window, nothing outside it.
Follows renewable output, smoothed by a small battery. The fossil plant covers the rest.
A SPARC stream is a registered share of an existing fossil PPA. It carries four things that used to be locked inside the PPA.
SPARC makes them transferable, together. The underlying PPA stays legally intact.
Deliver the MWh of that share to the buyer
Receive the contract payment for those MWh
The tCOâ‚‚ per MWh granted with the fossil PPA
Meet the delivery and availability terms
The offtaker keeps paying the fossil plant under the existing PPA. Nothing changes on that side.
For the agreed share, the plant buys less coal or gas. That avoided cost is passed on to the renewable generator, and ARC carbon finance closes any remaining gap. The buyer receives the same contracted power.
When one eligible MWh is delivered under a registered stream and confirmed by the meter, one SPARC record is created. It records the delivery and the right to be paid, and carries the emission right from the coal PPA.
The registry reflects what actually happened, one step at a time.
When a renewable MWh fulfills a SPARC stream, three records describe it. Each one proves a different point. None of them proves everything on its own.
This MWh fulfilled a registered SPARC stream inside an existing fossil PPA, with its embedded emission right
That the MWh was renewable. That needs a linked REC or equivalent certificate
This MWh was generated from a qualifying renewable source
The contract it was delivered under, or the emission right attached to it
The emission right held under the stream was not used when a lower-emission MWh fulfilled it
The renewable attribute or the contract substitution. Those need the linked SPARC and REC
The plant's emission right is on record before delivery starts. Once delivery is metered and its emissions are verified, the part of that right that was not used is issued as ARCs.
No counterfactual is needed. The reference point is the emission right already recorded with the contract, not an estimate of what might have happened otherwise.