Food and beverage giant Nestlé announced an investment in Enel North America’s Texas-based Ganado solar project, in addition to an agreement to purchase 100% of the renewable electricity attributes, generated by the project’s energy production, estimated to be an average of 333,000 megawatt hours per year, for 15 years.

According to Nestlé, the purchased energy will be used to help power the company’s U.S. manufacturing facilities. As part of the company’s time-bound net zero roadmap, Nestlé transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 forms a key element of the company’s plans to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to achieve net zero by 2050.

Howard Baker, Global Head of Engineering Service and Technologies at Nestlé, said:

“We will continue to accelerate the use of renewable electricity, including wind and solar, to source 100% renewable electricity across our sites globally by 2025, and to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our investment in this solar project is an important milestone to achieve these objectives: we will use renewable electricity to help power our U.S. manufacturing facilities, while also contributing to increasing the amount of renewable energy available in the U.S.”

Based in Jackson County, Texas, the Ganado project spans over 600 hectares, and is expected to add 208 megawatts of solar electricity to the U.S. power grid. The solar-plus-storage project is anticipated to become operational in Q2 2023. With the announcement, Nestlé will become the project’s sole tax equity investor.

Paolo Romanacci, head of Enel North America’s renewable energy business, Enel Green Power, said:

“Enel is proud to partner with the world’s largest food and beverage company to enable the addition of new clean power capacity in the United States. Customers of all sizes are seeking clean energy projects to help reduce their emissions and use more renewable energy, whether through PPAs, direct retail electricity purchases, upfront tax equity investments or other tailored agreements.”

Kate Short, Chief Procurement Officer, Nestlé North America, added:

“Not only will our investment in Ganado help reduce carbon emissions across our U.S. manufacturing sites, but we’re also proud that it will help expand the availability of renewable energy in the U.S., adding enough solar electricity to power about 24,574 homes each year.”

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