Serving an ace with renewables

The 2025 Australian Open was electric.

The lights illuminated centre court for 15 nights and more than 1.2 million fans passed through the gates, to see 411 main draw matches played.

But most importantly, as this celebration of the sport went on, Tennis Australia made sure to promote responsibly sourced electricity.

All the electricity used at this year’s Australian Open was backed by renewable energy certificates from Victorian based wind farm projects.

Luke Collins, Head of Australian Commodity Sales with ANZ Institutional, says such certificates are commonly used by the likes of major corporates such as grocers and phone companies.

“This is a great initiative where such a major sporting event is now embracing market – based solutions that provide environmental benefits,” he said.

ANZ sold the required 3,700 Large Generator Certificates to Tennis Australia.

So how do these Certificates work?

Luke explains the certificates mean Tennis Australia was able to back its forecast electricity consumption with renewable energy generation. This helps it reduce the carbon footprint associated with the tournament’s energy use, even if the actual electricity consumed comes from the grid.

“Tennis Australia’s purchase of renewable certificates promotes the generation of electricity from renewable sources.”

“The purchase of renewable energy certificates incentivises investment in the renewable space,” Luke says.

“Every renewable energy certificate represents one megawatt hour of energy that has been generated from renewable sources and added into the electricity grid as a whole.”

“That 3,700 large generator certificates means 3,700 megawatt hours.”

Tennis Australia's Matthew Nicholas, Director of Sustainability says, "Tennis Australia has found so far along our climate action journey that the most impactful way to make progress is to have our AO Partners really lean in and support us.  We're pleased to add another layer to our longstanding partnership with ANZ through this seamless transaction, ably supported by the commodities team."

Jeff Whalley is a Senior Journalist with bluenotes