- The four global brands will purchase renewable energy from a portion of Enel Green Power’s 350 MW Azure Sky wind project in Texas.
- MilliporeSigma, Akamai, Synopsys, and Uber leveraged their collective buying power to serve as an anchor tenant for the project, demonstrating the benefits of collaboration among businesses with smaller and more distributed energy needs.
- The Azure Sky wind project, the first large-scale project to combine wind and battery storage for Enel Green Power globally, is currently under construction and expected to begin operations in the first-half of 2022.
MilliporeSigma, Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS), and Uber (NYSE: UBER), with support from Sustainability Roundtable Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers, signed power purchase agreements with Enel Green Power for the energy produced by a 111 MW portion of the Azure Sky wind project located in Texas. The aggregation deal, a model which enables companies with smaller and more distributed energy needs to combine their renewable energy demand to collaboratively purchase renewable energy, is among the largest aggregation deals in the world.
“This aggregation deal demonstrates an extraordinary shift in the renewable energy purchasing market to give businesses with modest energy demand, but ambitious renewable energy goals, the opportunity to procure renewable energy in a cost-effective way,” saidGeorgios Papadimitriou, Head of Enel Green Power in the U.S. and Canada. “As more companies of all sizes look to power their operations with clean energy, Enel is uniquely positioned to enable that transition, by creating customized solutions to meet the energy needs of all buyers.”
MilliporeSigma, the life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will purchase the energy generated by a 68 MW portion of the Azure Sky wind project to help the company towards its goal of climate neutrality by 2040.
“To reach our goal of becoming climate neutral by 2040, accessing renewable energy programs like the Azure Sky Wind Project will be critical to MilliporeSigma and so many companies as they put into action environmentally conscious strategies and policies,” said Chris Ross, Interim CEO, MilliporeSigma.
Akamai, the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences plans to purchase the renewable energy generated by a 18 MW portion of the project to support the company’s commitment to run its intelligent edge network as efficiently as possible, to be mindful of its power usage, and to minimize the negative environmental impacts of its global operations.
“Akamai has led the way in innovative renewable energy projects since 2018, when we were a part of the United States’ first corporate aggregated virtual power purchase agreement (“VPPA”) – a game-changing approach for smaller renewable energy buyers. Today we are proud to continue that legacy by participating in the largest aggregation to date,” said Mike Mattera, Director, Corporate Sustainability, Akamai Technologies, Inc.
Synopsys is at the forefront of Smart Everything with the world’s most advanced technologies for chip design, verification, IP integration, and software security and quality testing. The company will purchase the energy generated by a 15 MW portion of the project to support its ambitious emissions reduction goal.
“This landmark Virtual Power Purchase Agreement is instrumental to Synopsys’ ability to deliver on its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 25% by 2024,” said Barbara Donaldson, Senior Vice President of Workplace Resources at Synopsys. “The 15 megawatts of wind generation capacity will help Synopsys mitigate approximately 70% of our projected North American emissions, leading to new renewable energy on the grid and displacing fossil fuels.”
Uber, a global mobility platform, will purchase the energy generated by a 10 MW portion of the Azure Sky wind + storage project helping the company progress towards its global commitment to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040. This project helps Uber achieve its pledge to match all of their US offices with 100% renewable electricity by 2025, while expanding to data centers and global locations by 2030.
“As the largest mobility platform in the world, we know that our impact goes beyond our technology. We want to do our part to build back better and support a green recovery to our cities and communities,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.
The four companies were supported on the aggregation deals by Sustainability Roundtable Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers, a buyers’ platform committed to creating corporate buyer favorable renewable energy transactions.
The wind energy purchased by the four companies from the 111 MW portion of the Azure Sky project is expected to generate around 430,000 MWh each year, equivalent to the electricity used by approximately 40,000 average US homes annually.
Located west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Throckmorton County, TX, the Azure Sky wind + storage project includes a 350 MW wind project paired with approximately 137 MW[1] of battery storage and is expected to be operational in the first-half of 2022. In addition to the four companies under the aggregation deal, Enel will also sell the electricity produced by a 100 MW portion of the Azure wind project to Kellogg Company.
The Azure Sky wind + storage project is the latest example of Enel’s commitment to invest in renewables-plus-storage hybrids in the US. Enel is currently constructing a similar plant, the 284 MW[2] Azure Sky solar + storage project, in a neighboring county and a third hybrid project, 181 MW[3] Lily solar + storage project also in Texas.
Enel Green Power North America is a leading developer, long-term owner and operator of renewable energy plants in North America, with a presence in 15 US states and one Canadian province. The company operates 60 plants with a managed capacity of over 6.7 GW powered by renewable wind, geothermal and solar energy.
Enel Green Power, within the Enel Group, is dedicated to the development and operation of renewables across the world, with a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Enel Green Power is a global leader in the green energy sector with a managed capacity of around 49 GW across a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower, and is at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies into renewable power plants.
Sustainability Roundtable Inc (“SR Inc”) is a leader in outsourced Environmental, Social and Governance management missioned to accelerate the development and adoption of best practices in more sustainable business. SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers is a confidential consortium for buyers only that helps participants develop global renewable energy and emissions reduction strategies and is the leading platform for Buyer Aggregated Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs).
[1] 137 MWdc, which will inject up to 120 MWac peak power into the grid
[2] 284 MWdc, which will inject up to 225 MWac peak power in to the grid
[3] 181 MWdc solar panels will inject up to 146 MWac peak power in to the grid
