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World’s largest companies announced a total of 1,730 MW of green capacity in Q1

18 April 2018
Electricity
Energynomics

Large companies announced deals for at least 1,731 megawatts of capacity in renewable power during the first quarter of this year, in a sign of continued strong corporate demand for clean energy. The amount of clean energy that businesses contracted during the first three months of 2018 was more than half the amount that companies agreed to buy during all of last year, according to figures compiled by GreenBiz Research and the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewables Center.

Besides the big, early boost, one thing that’s different so far this year is the array of creative, unique agreements, said Bryn Baker, deputy director of renewable energy at the World Wildlife Fund and head of the Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles. “Companies are trying to link their commitment to renewables with deals that show a real impact,” she said.

In one example, Nestle’s U.S. business signed a 15-year agreement to buy 50 megawatts of power from an Indiana wind farm that will serve Nestle facilities in Pennsylvania. Although Nestle’s plants are in a different state from the wind farm, they use the same regional grid and power market, the PJM Interconnection. The 50 megawatts will come from an expansion of an existing wind farm, according to the company.

Facebook signed a deal in March to buy all the power generated from a 320-megawatt Nebraska wind farm by 2029 to power a new data center in Papillion, Nebraska, about 120 miles from the wind farm.

Microsoft announced in March that it signed an agreement to buy 315 megawatts of power from a Virginia solar farm under development by sPower. It’s the largest corporate purchase of solar power in the United States. And the solar farm, which will have a capacity of 500 megawatts when completed, will double the amount of solar power in Virginia, according to the companies.

Autor: Energynomics

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