Led by AT&T, Facebook and Walmart, US corporates and industrials procured a record 4,203MW of wind power in 2018, an 80% increase from the previous high in 2015, for cost reasons and to meet sustainability goals and lower emissions, according to an American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) report.
Cumulative C&I wind purchases were 13,346MW on 31 December including power purchase agreements for more than 11,300MW.
“C&I purchasers have firmly established themselves as a significant demand driver for wind energy,” the trade group said in its US Wind Industry Annual Market Report Year Ending 2018.
Thirty-seven C&Is contracted 49% of the wind capacity signed under long-term PPAs last year including 21 that signed off-take deals for the first time.
AT&T contracted the most wind power in 2018, 820MW, then Walmart 533MW, followed by Facebook, ExxonMobil and Shell.
Beyond PPAs, C&I buyers are using a variety of methods to invest in wind energy These include utility green tariff programmes which allow eligible utility customers to buy bundled energy and RECs from specific wind projects through their utility. Facebook and General Motors have done the biggest deals to date.
Buyers have also executed large-scale REC purchases from specific wind projects. While these cannot be bundled with energy supply, signing a long-term contract can increase the ability to finance them in markets with high-value RECs such as New England,
Several corporates such as IKEA have taken direct ownership of a wind project.
Google Energy is the leading C&I wind customer with 2,096MW then Facebook (1,018MW), AT&T (820MW) and Walmart (792MW)
C&I off-take deals have now been done in 36 of 41 states where there is installed wind power capacity, although 65% are tied to projects in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois. Texas, the number one wind state, hosted 35% of contracted capacity in 2018, according to the report.
