Facebook and Adobe have signed power purchase agreements with Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA), the renewable energies division of the Enel Group, for the sale of energy produced by Enel's 320 MW Rattlesnake Creek wind farm.
Facebook’s deal with Enel expands upon the previous agreement for the purchase of Rattlesnake Creek’s output, increasing the renewable power supply to Facebook’s data center in Papillion, Nebraska, upon its expansion. Under the agreement with Adobe, the power and renewable energy credits from a 10 MW portion of Rattlesnake Creek will be sold to the software company through a bundled power purchase agreement beginning in 2019 and running through 2028. In 2029, the plant’s total output will then supply Facebook’s data center, enabling a 100% renewable power supply to that location.
The new deal between Enel and Facebook widens the scope of the existing PPA for 200 MW signed in November 2017 to gradually include the plant’s overall output by 2029, following Facebook’s decision to significantly expand its facility in Papillion. Facebook's director of global energy Bobby Hollis says the Rattlesnake Creek wind farm will enable the company to power its future Papillion Data Center, and helps the company in its mission to expand the energy market for other corporate buyers like Adobe.
Rattlesnake Creek, which is EGPNA’s first Nebraska wind facility, is currently under construction and is expected to start operations by the end of 2018.
The Rattlesnake Creek wind farm is owned by Rattlesnake Creek Wind Project LLC, a subsidiary of EGPNA, and is located in Dixon County, Nebraska. Investment in the construction of the wind farm amounts to approximately $430 million and is part of the investment outlined in Enel’s current strategic plan. The project is financed through EGPNA's own resources. Once fully operational in 2019, the 320 MW wind farm will be able to generate around 1.3 TWh annually. Tradewind Energy developed the project, which encompasses about 32,000 acres and involves around 100 landowners, Tradewind says.
The Rattlesnake Creek project will have 101 Acciona turbines.
Earlier this month, Kohler Co. signed a 15-year deal with EGPNA to purchase 100 MW of wind power annually that will power the company’s operations in the US and Canada.
Power will come from the Diamond Vista wind farm near Salina in Kansas, a nearly 300-MW project that Enel acquired from the renewable energy developer Tradewind Energy. Construction has already begun on the new wind farm, and it is expected to begin operations by the end of this year.
EGPNA operates around 100 plants with a managed capacity exceeding 4.2 GW powered by renewable hydropower, wind, geothermal and solar energy.
