Verizon has entered a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for 180 MW of wind energy generated by Ledyard Windpower to support the company’s sustainability goals.

“We’re excited to enter into the Iowa market, a state that has valuable wind resources and is ranked second in wind energy generation,” said Chris Fallon, president of Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions. “Ledyard Windpower will not only add cleaner energy and economic value to Kossuth County, but it will also contribute to Duke Energy’s goal of reaching 47,000 MW of renewable energy by 2050.”

Once in operation, the Ledyard Windpower project will increase Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ U.S. wind capacity to over 3.1 GW. The site will provide enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of more than 72,450 U.S. homes.

Ledyard Windpower, which is slated for completion at the end of 2022, will create approximately 200 jobs during peak construction. Additionally, the 12,000-acre agriculture site, which will continue to be used by farmers, will provide local tax revenues during assessment years of commercial operation to the county and local school districts, as well as payments to participating landowners.

Ledyard Windpower was co-developed by Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions and Amshore Renewable Energy.

Full mobilization of construction for the project began in August 2021 by Wanzek Construction. Vestas will supply 46 Vestas V150 4.5-MW turbines for the project and Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions will perform the site’s long-term maintenance and operations.

News item from Duke Energy

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In 2019, cellular service Sprint signed a 12-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for 173.3 MW of the wind generated by the project, which will reduce parent company T-Mobile’s carbon production by 9%.

“Projects like Maryneal Windpower play a huge role in T-Mobile’s commitments to fight climate change and bring us another step closer to achieving our goal of using 100% renewable energy by the end of 2021 — even after our merger with Sprint in 2020 almost doubled our company footprint,” said Brigitta Witt, T-Mobile vice president of Social Impact and Sustainability.

Maryneal Windpower created approximately 200 jobs during peak construction and the site will provide local tax revenues to the county and local school districts during assessment years and payments to participating landowners.

“Wind projects such as Maryneal contribute to a cleaner, stronger economy and help create a more diverse energy infrastructure in Texas,” said Chris Fallon, president of Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions. “We’re excited to work with T-Mobile to create jobs, strengthen the local economy and generate clean energy, while also helping them address their renewable energy goal.”

Wanzek Construction was the contractor for the project, and Nordex USA supplied 38 4.8-MW wind turbines for the site. Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions will perform the site’s long-term maintenance and operations.

The Maryneal project increases Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ U.S. wind capacity to over 3,000 MW. The site will provide enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of more than 54,000 U.S. homes.

News item from Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions

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Duke Energy selects winners for its Power Partner awards based on leadership in sustainability, community excellence, economic development, and renewable excellence.

The Power Partner award program, which began in 1992, honors businesses and other organizations that achieve notable results in categories including solutions innovation, community excellence, economic development, sustainability innovation, storm restoration and renewable excellence.

“The businesses and organizations selected for this award are truly outstanding,” said Chris Edge, Duke Energy VP of large business customers. “Each one is determined to serve customers and stakeholders in ways that benefit their companies and their communities, and delivers value to Duke Energy as well.”

One of the 2019 Power Partner award-winning organization for “Solution Innovations, Enterprise” — with a noteworthy mention of renewable energy use — is Walmart (including multiple store locations).

According to Duke Energy, Walmart worked with power company to create and support the North Carolina Green Source Advantage program. To this end, Walmart joined forces with Duke Energy and the Public Staff of the North Carolina Utilities Commission to craft a program that balances the interests of participating and non-participating customers — as well as the interests of the renewable power industry.

Thanks to Walmart’s engagement and expertise, the Green Source Advantage program helps participating members meet their sustainability goals, providing a structure to hedge costs while controlling the costs to non-participating customers.

Walmart also recently joined the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), the largest group of corporate renewable energy buyers in the U.S.

Read about Duke Energy’s other Power Partner winners here. 

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