Commercial, Wind  -  June 26, 2020

Cisco enters into first long-term wind PPA

Cisco announced June 24 that they signed their first PPA with a wind farm and was one of several companies to contract a long-term PPA with the 419 MW Mesquite Star wind farm in Texas.

The technology hardware company expects the agreement to reduce their Scope 2 emissions in Texas by over 18,000 metric tons per year. Cisco contracted a 10 MW portion of the Clearway Energy Group project, which will provide approximately 40% of the electricity needed at their Richardson and Allen, Texas data centers.

“Renewable PPA agreements allow Cisco to support new renewable energy developments that produce electricity bundled with the associated Renewable Energy Credits (RECs),” Andy Smith, Cisco Global Sustainability Manager and member of Smart Energy Decisions’ advisory board, said in a statement. “This helps us meet our sustainability goals and reduces costs and volatility in our energy budget by locking in electricity prices over the term of the agreements. Furthermore, it creates local jobs and adds clean, renewable electricity to the local electric grid where we have operations.”

This is the company’s third overall long-term renewable energy contract, following an agreement in 2017 to power their San Jose, Calif., headquarters with solar power and an agreement to provide solar power to their campus in Bangalore, India. Cisco is committed to reducing their total Scope 1 and 2 emissions worldwide by 60% between 2007 and 2022 and generating 85% of their global electricity from renewable sources by 2022.

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