US beer giant Anheuser-Busch signed one of the world’s biggest ever corporate solar power deals with an agreement to buy output from a 310MW Texas PV array, said the plant’s developer.
The deal with Recurrent Energy, a unit of Canadian Solar, will see the Budweiser and Corona brewer buy electricity from the Maplewood solar project in Peco County, West Texas, under a 15-year power purchase agreement. Maplewood is due to enter service in 2021.
The agreement is the largest purchase of solar power by the US beverage industry and will get Anheuser-Busch to its 2025 US renewable energy target four years early, a statement said.
Anheuser-Busch procurement and sustainability head Ingrid De Ryck said: "By 2021 our entire portfolio of beers will be brewed by using 100% renewable electricity from solar and wind power".
Demand for wind and solar power from major corporations has become one of the renewables industry’s most important growth drivers in recent years, particularly in the US – where corporate and non-utility buyers contracted for a record 4.2GW of wind last year, led by AT&T, Walmart and Facebook.
Budweiser put its green credential in front of the ultimate US audience earlier this year when it took an ad during the Super Bowl.