(Photo Credit: Enel Green Power on Instagram)Mondelez International signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Enel Green Power North America for a 65-MW portion of the renewable company’s Roadrunner solar farm in Texas. The snack-maker says this deal will slash 80,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Located in Upton County, Texas, the 497-MW Roadrunner solar project is on track to be the largest solar project in the state when it’s fully operational by the end of 2020. Once completed, Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA) said the solar plant should generate approximately 1.2 TWh annually. Construction on Roadrunner began in March.
With 2018 net revenues of around $26 billion, Mondelez International’s brands include Belvita, Lu, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Toblerone, Sour Patch Kids, Milka, Trident, and Oreos. The snack company says the VPPA will reduce global manufacturing emissions by 5% compared to a 2013 baseline. They added that the energy from Roadrunner should be enough to produce more than 50% of all the Oreo cookies consumed annually in the United States.
“Businesses are increasingly turning to renewable energy, both for its cost competitiveness and environmental benefits,” said Georgios Papadimitriou, the head of Enel Green Power North America.
EGPNA has been on a roll. Last year saw Starbucks and Kohler signing agreements as well as Facebook and Adobe snapping up energy from the 320-MW Rattlesnake Creek wind farm. Late last year, Enel’s HillTopper wind farm in Illinois began operations. Then the Rattlesnake Creek wind farm in Nebraska started operations in January.
This spring the company purchased Kansas-based renewable developer Tradewind Energy. EGPNA, which is part of the Enel Group’s global renewable energy business line Enel Green Power, has around 100 plants with a managed capacity of around 5 GW in the United States and Canada.
