Power Prices, Commercial, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  January 25, 2017

Iron Mountain inks Texas wind energy supply contract

Storage and information management services company Iron Mountain Inc. has entered into a new renewable energy supply agreement to fufill a portion of the electrical load for its Texas operations.  

Through the deal, Iron Mountain will have power sourced from NextEra Energy's Blue Summit wind farm near Vernon, Texas. The agreement, intended to combine the benefits of green power with a structured index pricing product to reduce Iron Mountain's exposure to market volatility, was structured by green power marketer Renewable Power Direct. 

The product structure, according to a Jan. 25 news release from Renewable Power Direct, provides "a rigorous chain of custody and ease of contracting in verifying the purchase and use of this energy source, enabling Iron Mountain to clearly and accurately report its usage of renewable energy." The deal follows a similar agreement for Iron Mountain's New Jersey and Pennsylvania operations struck earlier in the year. 

Iron Mountain director of corporate responsibility Kevin Hagen said in a statement that the contracts are a complement to the company's long-term power purchase agreements. 

"A big barrier to purchasing renewable energy for many companies has been the complexity of the deals," Hagen said. "With this contract, RPD has crafted an offer that we can execute alongside our other deregulated market transactions. We're pleased with the ease of contracting and with the results RPD has provided for us in meeting our financial and operational goals for our sustainability program."

Iron Mountain said in October 2016 after announcing a PPA for a 10% of the output from the 253-MW Amazon Wind Farm Texas that that deal, coupled with a 15-year agreement with a wind farm in Ringer Hill, Penn., as well as ongoing investments in solar projects throughout the U.S. and Canada, has positioned the company to be able to utilize renewable sources for two-thirds of its total North American electricity load by 2018.

Correction: Article was amended at 11:45 a.m. ET on Jan. 26, 2017, to correct the name of green power marketer Renewable Power Direct. An earlier version of the article incorrectly referred to the company as Renewable Energy Direct. 

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