Who have been the biggest players in US wind PPAs over the last 12 months?

Big corporates including telecom giant AT&T, and tech giants Facebook and Google, have driven wind power purchase agreements in the US over the last year, despite the lack of support to the sector from President Donald Trump. The table gives an overview of the most significant deals. For a complete list of corporate PPAs in the US, please get in touch with our team at editorial@awordaboutwind.com.

US Wind's most significant PPAS over the last year:

A closer look at the top deals:

AT&T

Telecoms giant AT&T has agreed to buy 820MW of wind power in the last 12 months. The deals have all been signed with US developer NextEra Energy Resources and include the power produced by the 300MW Torrecillas wind farm in Texas; the 220MW Minco 5 scheme in Oklahoma; as well as the entire output produced by two wind farms in Wilbarger and Hardeman counties in Texas. These PPAs are part of AT&T’s plan to develop energy solutions that deliver carbon savings ten times the footprint of its operations by 2025.

Facebook

Social media giant Facebook has signed deals for 536MW of wind power over the last year. These include a 200MW PPA at Enel Green Power’s 320MW Rattlesnake Creek signed in October; and a deal agreed in March to gradually increase its commitment to purchase electricity produced by the project’s remaining 120MW by 2029. The power produced by Rattlesnake will be used to power Facebook’s Papillion Data centre in the state of Nebraska. The company has also signed two wind PPAs with Avangrid Renewables and NextEra Energy for the entire output produced by two wind farms in New Mexico to power its data centre in Los Lunas.

Google

Tech giant Google is head to head with Facebook, having also signed 536MW of wind PPAs over the last 12 months. In December, Google agreed to buy the electricity produced by four wind farms, including the entire output of EDF Renewable Energy’s 200MW Glaciers Edge in Iowa; the whole output of Avangrid Renewables’ Coyote Ridge and Tatanka Ridge wind farms, totalling 196MW, in South Dakota; and 140MW of the power produced by Enel’s 300MW Red Dirt wind farm in Oklahoma. The agreements have enabled Google to reach its target of 100% renewable energy for its global operations last year.

Kimberly-Clark

Personal care firm Kimberly-Clark signed in September two PPAs totalling 245MW for the power produced by two wind farms. The deals cover 78% of the electricity produced by EDF Renewable Energy’s 154MW Rock Falls wind farm in Oklahoma, and 42% of the power generated by Invenergy’s 300MW Santa Rita wind farm in Texas. The PPAs are set to help Kimberly-Clark to achieve its goal of a 25% reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2018. Kimberly-Clark owns tissue brand Kleenex, as well as other brands including Andrex and Huggies.

General Motors

Car giant General Motors signed power purchase agreements totalling 200MW over the last 12 months for electricity produced by two wind farms. The deals cover the energy produced by Starwood Energy’s 100MW Northwest Ohio wind farm; and 100MW of the output produced by the 185MW Hill Topper wind farm in Illinois. GM signed the 100MW PPA for Hill Topper with developer Swift Current in September, but the project was then acquired in April by Italian utility Enel Green Power. The car giant is set to use the power produced by the two schemes to meet the electricity needs of its manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Indiana.

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