I am building the Compute Heat Rate to help energy markets understand what large computing loads are actually worth, when they should consume power, and when flexibility becomes more valuable.
Before this, I spent eleven years at Renewable Choice Energy and Schneider Electric, where I built and led businesses in corporate renewable energy, supply chain decarbonization, and tax credit investing.
Created the Supply Chain Renewables Initiative, now called SCDR. The model became the blueprint for Energize, Catalyze, RE:SPARK, LEAP, pep+ REnew, GPPA, and other programs across more than 50 global brands and 2,700 suppliers.
IntrapreneurshipDesigned and launched Schneider's Tax Credit Advisory team. Led the ENGIE tax credit transfer deal in 2024, which reinvested tax savings into renewable energy credits. More than 18 deals closed since 2023.
Tax credit investingWorked across hundreds of PPA transactions that supported more than 25,000 MW of new wind and solar globally and helped Schneider become the world's number one ranked corporate renewables advisor.
PPAsSchneider Electric ranked number one in the 2025 Guidehouse Leaderboard for energy and sustainability services.
#1 rankedRecognized by RE100 with the 'Changemaker Award' as part of Schneider's award winning Tax Credit Transfer project at Climate Week NYC.
AwardServed as Program Director for the Gigaton PPA, which enabled Walmart's U.S. suppliers to procure renewable energy through aggregate purchasing.
GPPAThe Compute Heat Rate measures the maximum electricity price an AI workload can sustain while remaining economic. It puts compute economics into the same unit used by power markets, dollars per megawatt hour.
The framework matters because AI workloads can support electricity prices far above the levels that cause traditional industrial demand to curtail. That difference affects scarcity pricing, grid flexibility, interconnection, project risk, and the way market participants think about large digital loads.
Two thresholds matter, and they are not the same number. The long-run CHR is the price above which a new site does not get built. The dispatch CHR, CHR-D, is the price above which a site already running would rationally curtail. CHR-D is the one that intersects operating reserve demand curves, and it is the value quoted above. Current reference values across all tiers, the blend weights, and the full methodology are maintained at the quarterly CHR Index on ComputeHeatRate.com.
Note on the Q3 restatement. Q3 2026 values publish on a corrected facility power basis: full DGX system power at 13.26 kW, replacing the GPU-only figure used through Q2. The correction lowers published values across every tier and is documented in the Q3 methodology note. It does not change the finding. The gap between what AI compute can pay for electricity and what traditional industrial load can pay is still measured in orders of magnitude.
New CHR analysis, quarterly index updates, and commentary on how AI demand is repricing power markets. Free to subscribe.
Hans created Schneider Electric's supply chain renewables model. Programs built from that model now span multiple industries, more than 50 brands, and 2,700 suppliers.
Originally built for pharmaceuticals, now a healthcare initiative with 25 corporate sponsors including UnitedHealth Group. Teva and Sandoz signed new PPAs through the program.
Decarbonizing the semiconductor value chain with 9 sponsors including Intel, Applied Materials, and KLA. Multi buyer cohorts across the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Launched November 2025 to accelerate renewable electricity across M&S's global fashion supply chain. Powered by Zeigo Hub across five key regions.
Expanding renewable energy access across Levi's supply chain, starting in India. Targeting 42% supply chain emissions reduction by 2030.
Landed the first supplier/PepsiCo cohort VPPA in the US, now expanding to additional value chain cohorts in several global markets.
The Gigaton PPA program, accelerating renewable energy adoption among Walmart's US suppliers through aggregate purchasing power.
"The grid needs a way to understand what AI compute can actually pay for electricity. That is the problem CHR is designed to measure."
I have spent eighteen years building businesses in energy. My current work focuses on the intersection of AI compute, electricity markets, grid flexibility, and market design.
Hans Royal is the creator of the Compute Heat Rate (CHR), a framework that measures the maximum electricity price an AI compute workload can sustain while remaining economic. His current work focuses on CHR research, analytics, grid flexibility, data center power economics, and electricity market design.
CHR was published in 2026 and has since been cited by PJM Interconnection, the Grid 2.0 Task Force, and in testimony before the Texas House Committee on State Affairs. The framework has also been covered by RTO Insider, New Project Media, PowerSignal, The Power Game, and Peter Kelly Detwiler. Hans publishes quarterly CHR reference values and ongoing research at ComputeHeatRate.com.
Before focusing on CHR full time, Hans spent eleven years at Renewable Choice Energy and Schneider Electric. He held senior commercial and strategy roles in Schneider Electric's Renewable Energy and Carbon Advisory business and worked with large corporate and industrial clients on renewable energy strategy, power purchase agreements, supply chain decarbonization, tax credit investing, and project finance.
Hans created Schneider Electric's Supply Chain Renewables Initiative, which later became Supply Chain Decarbonization Renewables. Programs built from the model include Energize, Catalyze, RE:SPARK, LEAP, pep+ REnew, and the Gigaton PPA program. Collectively, these initiatives have engaged more than 2,700 suppliers across more than 50 global brands.
Hans also designed and launched Schneider Electric's Tax Credit Advisory team, which facilitated more than $2.5 billion in tax credit transfer transactions. His broader renewable energy work includes hundreds of PPA transactions associated with more than 25,000 MW of wind and solar development globally.
Hans has more than eighteen years of experience in renewable energy, power markets, business development, and corporate energy strategy. He helped grow Renewable Choice Energy's PPA advisory business through its acquisition by Schneider Electric and its expansion into a global corporate renewables advisory platform.
He speaks regularly on energy markets, data center power, renewable energy procurement, and corporate energy strategy. In September 2026 he is speaking at YOTTA in Las Vegas on the metrics that matter for AI infrastructure economics.
Hans holds degrees in Business and Music from Millikin University and studied International Business at École Supérieure de Gestion in Paris. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany and is fluent in German and English, with conversational French.
Hans lives in Louisville, Colorado with his dog Morty and cat Gremlin. Outside work, he spends a lot of time hiking, skiing, and playing pickleball.
The founding CHR paper with the empirical specification, identification strategy, and market implications. First published Feb 28, 2026; revised June 4, 2026.
SSRN · Abstract 6322318 FrameworkThe comprehensive CHR framework with methodology, worked examples, and Q&A. Quarterly reference values published at the CHR Index.
ComputeHeatRate.com IndexQuarterly reference values across all six blended workload tiers, from commodity and mini models to frontier inference. Training is excluded from the blend.
ComputeHeatRate.com/chr-index LinkedIn articleThe case for CHR and what it means for AI era infrastructure procurement.
LinkedIn NewsletterOngoing CHR research and market analysis, how AI demand reprices electricity markets, one development at a time.
computeheatrate.substack.comEverything in the archive above goes out to subscribers first. Free.
Interested in CHR, data center power economics, electricity markets, partnerships, press, or speaking? Send me a note.
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