Commercial, Industrial, Wind  -  October 18, 2018

Walmart and Cargill join for wind VPPA

Cargill and Walmart are sharing the offtake of a new wind farm in South Dakota.  Walmart first announced an agreement in April to purchase 150 MW of wind power from Geronimo Energy’s 200 MW Crocker Wind Farm.  Cargil followed on October with the announcement of a 12-year VPPA for the remaining 50 MW of the project. The facility is currently under construction in Clark County, South Dakota and is expected to begin producing power at the end of 2019.

"Walmart has a goal to be supplied by 100% renewable energy, and sourcing from wind energy projects like the Crocker Wind Farm project will be a core component in the mix,” said Mark Vanderhelm, vice president of energy for Walmart, in a statement. "The energy we’ll procure from this facility represents an important leap forward on our renewable energy journey."

"Cargill is a strong and outspoken advocate for climate action. We cannot ignore the impact of a changing climate on our global food system. We believe business has a critical role to play. That’s why we are investing in renewable energy to reduce emissions from our company’s operations, while contributing to the renewable economy," said Jill Kolling, Cargill's global sustainability leader. "Long-term purchase agreements like this one with Geronimo Energy allow Cargill to leverage our scale to accelerate the production of renewable energy." The wind energy will be used to help partially offset the impact of Cargill’s Midwest operations.

Cargill has committed to reducing absolute GHG emissions in the company’s operations by 10% by 2025 against a 2017 baseline. The company says this VPPA will deliver approximately 10% that target. Wind energy is one of 15 renewable energy sources used by Cargill facilities around the world. Renewable energy, which represents 15% of the company’s power usage, is used at over 100 Cargill locations worldwide.

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SED’s View: Walmart's blitz of PPA announcements this week is inspiring. Four deals totaling 373 MW of wind power demonstrates solid industry leadership. That today's deal includes a major supplier in Cargill proves they mean business with Project Gigaton. Congratulations to Matt Dodson, Joby Carlson, and the entire Walmart team.

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