In October 2025, the U.S. energy market witnessed a landmark achievement with the launch of the first-ever hourly Granular Certificate (GC) auction in the PJM Interconnection. Led by LevelTen Energy in collaboration with the GC Trading Alliance and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), this event marks a decisive step toward building a more transparent, time-based, and impactful clean energy market. For the first time, buyers and sellers were able to trade verified, hour-by-hour carbon-free energy attributes, enabling true 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) procurement—something long viewed as the next frontier in corporate clean energy strategies.
A New Market is Born
Traditional renewable energy certificates (RECs and GOs) rely on annual accounting, which masks the real-time variability of clean energy production. Hourly GCs, by contrast, assign individual value to each hour of generation based on its actual contribution to decarbonizing the grid. This auction represents the first real-world demonstration that markets can price hourly clean energy attributes in a transparent and financially meaningful way.
Key Results from the October 2025 Auction
According to LevelTen’s GC Market Signals Report, the auction delivered several insights that will shape the future of clean energy procurement.
Strong Trading Activity and Clear Price Discovery
A total of 1,729 GCs were traded across 919 hourly contracts, with prices ranging between $30 and $37 per certificate. This reflects a clear premium over traditional PJM compliance RECs. Unmet buyer demand shows that organizations are eager to secure high-quality, hourly matched CFE.
Concentrated Market Matches
While eligible hours spanned January through August 2025, most matched trades occurred in April and May. This reveals early patterns of supply–demand alignment and the emergence of hour-by-hour valuation signals.
Buyers Are Prioritizing High-Value Hours
Certain hours—especially in mid-April—commanded noticeably higher prices, while others traded at lower levels. The market is beginning to differentiate between easy-to-decarbonize and hard-to-decarbonize hours, which is essential for 24/7 CFE strategies.
Why This Auction Matters
Unlocking True 24/7 Clean Energy Procurement
Companies pursuing 24/7 CFE commitments now have a market-based mechanism to match consumption with clean generation in every hour of the year. Hourly GCs are the missing link that makes these strategies operational and credible.
Empowering Developers With Better Revenue Signals
Hourly pricing allows developers to identify valuable hours, optimize project design, and integrate storage more effectively. This represents a shift from volume-based incentives toward impact-based incentives.
Strengthening Carbon Accounting Integrity
Hourly precision supports more accurate Scope 2 reporting, reduces reliance on low-impact certificates, and increases confidence in corporate climate claims. It also aligns with emerging global expectations around high-quality emissions accounting.
The GC Marketplace: Modern Market Infrastructure
The new GC Marketplace is built on a hybrid system: WebICE for auction bids and matches, the LevelTen platform for delivery and settlement, and PJM-GATS for issuance and retirement of certificates. This integrated structure ensures transparency, traceability, and a scalable framework for future growth. It demonstrates how digital market infrastructure can accelerate the clean energy transition.
A Turning Point for Global Clean Energy Markets
The United States now leads the global rollout of operational hourly certificate markets, moving ahead of early European pilots. The implications are significant, including improved valuation of renewable and firm clean resources, stronger incentives for storage, better real-time alignment of supply and demand, and a pathway toward meaningful emissions reductions. As monthly auctions continue, the GC Marketplace is expected to strengthen liquidity and sharpen price signals, becoming a key reference point for 24/7 CFE procurement worldwide.
Conclusion: A Defining Moment for the Energy Transition
The inaugural hourly GC auction represents a structural transformation, proving that clean energy can be valued and traced with hourly accuracy. It provides developers with new revenue opportunities, buyers with credible decarbonization tools, and markets with unprecedented transparency. This milestone marks the beginning of a new era in which clean energy is not just produced but measured and valued precisely when it is needed most.