WIND FOR CANDY GETS BIG BACKER

Duke Energy buying into wind farm that powers Mars candies

John Downey, July 7, 2015 Charlotte Business Journal

Duke Energy Renewables will, pending regulatory approval, purchase a 50% share of Sumitomo Corp.’s 211 MW Mesquite Creek Wind Farm in Texas. Financial details were undisclosed. The production of the 118 turbine Mesquite Creek project, which went online in April, goes to M&Ms and Snickers bars maker Mars, Inc., under a long term power purchase agreement (PPA). It is, according to Mars, 100% of the electricity used at its 70 U.S. locations, which include 37 factories. With this deal, Duke Energy Renewables’ 2014-ending 1,627 MW wind capacity, which gave it the ninth leading market share among owner-developers of U.S. wind, will go to over 1,700 MW. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) 2014 Annual Market Report, at least 60 non-utility entities had bought wind energy through various contractual mechanisms by the end of 2014, including over 1,800 MW in PPAs. click here for more

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