Clearway Energy Group announced that it has completed financing and begun construction on the 300 MW Pine Forest solar and 200 MW Pine Forest standalone storage projects in Hopkins County, Texas. Once completed, the Pine Forest projects will generate enough electricity to power more than 90,000 homes. The energy storage system stores and dispatches excess energy when demand is high, providing valuable flexibility to the electrical grid.
To finance the $665 million project, Clearway put together a banking consortium consisting of Société Générale; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, New York Branch; Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, New York branch; Commerzbank AG, New York branch; KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. and Lloyds Bank Plc.
“Our Pine Forest projects represent a major investment in the reliability of the Texas electric grid,” said Brooks Friedeman, VP of capital markets at Clearway. “We appreciate the financial support provided by our consortium of banks to begin construction of the Pine Forest projects.”
Dell Technologies has contracted a significant portion of the solar project under a long-term Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) in support of climate goals. This project is expected to generate renewable energy to cover the majority of Dell Technologies’ U.S. footprint, bringing the company closer to one of its global sustainability ambitions of sourcing 75% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2040.
“The Pine Forest solar project marks a critical step in Dell Technologies’ journey to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. With this contract, we are supporting the introduction of a significant amount of clean energy into the grid and expanding our renewable energy procurement as The project is expected to meet the majority of our U.S. energy needs. Together with Clearway, we not only envision a sustainable future, but we are also actively building it. As part of our strategy, we continue to explore additional avenues to advance sustainability and ensure our operations remain efficient, responsible and innovative,” said Mark Pringle, Senior Vice President of Global Facilities and EHS, Dell Technologies.
In addition, Universal Corporation has also entered into a VPPA contract with the Pine Forest solar project. Universal’s portion of the project will offset 100% of the electricity it uses in the United States with renewable energy, contributing to its overall emissions reduction goals.
“This is a meaningful step toward achieving our global science-based environmental goal of reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030,” said George C. Freeman III, chairman, president and CEO of Universal. “Once the solar project is operational, we expect to achieve this goal for our US operations ahead of schedule. Universal is proud of the steps we are taking to advance the sustainability of our operations and contribute to global sustainability goals, including supporting this project that will add additional renewable energy to the grid.”
The Pine Forest projects will support an estimated 350 construction jobs and several permanent operating positions, contribute millions of dollars in direct investment to the local community and generate more than $58 million in property taxes over the next twenty years.
The projects will become commercially operational in 2025. Clearway is also in discussions with corporate entities regarding the transfer of certain clean energy tax credits associated with Pine Forest.
News item from Clearway Energy Group
