The 350MW/137MW wind-plus-battery plant will be Enel’s biggest hybrid project in America
Credit: Kellogg Company’s website
Kellogg’s, an American multinational food manufacturer has agreed to a power purchase agreement with Italian energy giant, Enel to power its Texas operations with a wind-plus-storage project. Dubbed the Azure Sky Wind Project, construction of the 350MW/137MW hybrid facility has begun. Located in Throckmorton County, the facility will have 79 wind turbines producing green energy which would have otherwise added over 842,000 tonnes of carbon emissions into the world’s atmosphere annually.
Renewable energy has come under significant fire in Texas following the state’s unprecedented electricity breakdown during a particularly severe winter snap, which left thousands of people in freezing darkness. However, experts have stated that augmenting renewable energy generation with battery storage will improve the resilience of grid networks. In fact, this hybrid approach has been proposed for its durability in extreme weather conditions, such as what Texans experienced recently.
Azure Sky Wind Project will be Enel’s third project to integrate wind energy production with battery storage. It is also Enel’s biggest hybrid project in America so far. Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power and Head of Enel’s Global Power Generation, said: “As our first large-scale project to pair wind and storage, and our largest hybrid plant globally, Azure demonstrates Enel’s continued commitment to leading the energy transition towards a 100% renewable-powered electric grid. This transition is supported and accelerated by commercial customers, like Kellogg Company, who are placing sustainability at the core of their business.”
Kellogg Company has committed to powering more than half of its operations across the world with renewable energy. Amy Senter, Kellogg Company’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “Kellogg has been working to reduce its carbon footprint across our value chain for more than a decade. This latest VPPA further demonstrates to investors, stakeholders and our consumers that we are taking swift action to address climate change.”
Kellogg’s renewable electricity purchase is the equivalent amount of electricity it takes power more than 43,000 homes each year in North America and is estimated to avoid over 250,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by 330,000 acres of US forest each year.
