By Heather Clancy, GreenBiz
Facebook has procured more than 3 gigawatts of electricity from solar and wind plants since 2013, including more than 2,500 megawatts within the past year. It is second only to Google in the sheer scale of its purchases, based on data collected by the Rocky Mountain Institute Business Renewables Center. What’s more, the social media giant is behind the biggest single set of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) announced so far in 2018, a series of six solar projects that will generate 437 MW of electricity from two projects near its data center in Prineville, Oregon, and four installations planned by PacifiCorp in Utah . . . The company has invested considerable energy, so to speak, in negotiating with utilities. For example, the company was involved in shaping a tariff adopted by the Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska last year. Read more here.
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OPPD BLOG
Power Purchase Agreements, by Jason Kuiper, The Wire
Currently, OPPD utilizes PPAs for the output of five wind farms: Grande Prairie, Prairie Breeze, Flatware, Petersburg, as well as Sholes, which is under construction. Also, OPPD has signed power sales agreements with NPPD for the partial output of five other wind farms. Those farms are Ainsworth, Broken Bow 1, Broken Bow 2, Crofton Bluffs and Elkhorn Ridge. The normal term of OPPD’s PPAs is 20 years. The new community solar project near Fort Calhoun is under a PPA, with NextEra Energy Resources.
NEBRASKA ALSO IN THE NEWS HERE
- Facebook will power itself with 100% renewable energy by 2020, Fast Company
In Papillon, Nebraska, another Facebook data center will run on power from a nearby wind farm, now under construction, with 101 massive wind turbines. - Facebook Commits To 100% Renewable Energy & 75% GHG Emissions Reduction By 2020, Clean Technica. In March Facebook and Adobe signed PPAs for the electricity generated from the soon-to-be-completed 320 megawatts (MW) Rattlesnake Creek wind farm in Nebraska.
- U.S. Army Bases Are Installing More Solar Panels, Green Matters
Renewable energy has helped communities everywhere from American Indian tribes in Nebraska to islands in the Caribbean find relief with wind and solar power in areas impacted by the limitations of traditional energy grids. One area installing solar panels that might seem unlikely: U.S. army bases.
MORE 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS
- SEIA Praises Historic Passage of SB 100 in California State Assembly, Stresses Need for Near-Term Procurement Legislation, Press Release
- California Legislature Passes Bill Putting State on Path to 100% Renewable and Zero-Carbon Power, National Law Review
- On to Governor Brown’s Desk: What 100% Clean Energy Means for California, Greentech Media
- Facebook Joins 100% Renewable Energy Revolution, Eco Watch
Facebook announced Tuesday it will slash greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent and transition global operations to 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020 in efforts to “help fight climate change.” Similarly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend that his company’s enormous Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada will run entirely on Tesla Solar by the end of 2019.
AWEA NEWS RELEASE
DOE reports Distributed Wind has surpassed 1 GW; Industry poised for further growth
MORE GIGAWATT NEWS
- Ohio business community backs 2.2 GW of Ohio solar, PV Magazine
Five prominent firms with operations in Ohio are endorsing a report advocating 2.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar for Ohio by 2030, lending their corporate logos in support. Reaching 2.2 GW of solar in Ohio would involve $3.6 billion in investment, and “sustain 800 direct jobs and over 1,700 indirect and induced jobs each year,” said the report, and would boost the state GDP by $1 billion per year. - California is one step closer to 3 GW of new energy storage systems through rebate extension, Solar Power World