Industrial, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  April 23, 2019

General Mills heads for goals with VPPA

General Mills has taken a big step toward its climate goal by signing a 15-year VPPA for a wind project in central Texas. The new wind project will produce renewable energy credits for General Mills that, together with the company’s previous wind power agreement, are calculated to equal% 100 percent of the electricity used annually at the company’s owned domestic facilities.

The VPPA was signed with Roaring Fork Wind, LLC, a joint venture partnership between RES (Renewable Energy Systems) and Steelhead Americas, for 200 megawatts (MW) of its Maverick Creek wind project, located 10 miles from Cactus Flats, site of General Mills’ first wind energy purchase agreement.

“General Mills began its milling operations more than 150 years ago with water power from the banks of the Mississippi River,” said John Church, chief supply chain officer and global business solutions officer at General Mills, in a statement. “By learning from history, and tying back to our clean power roots, the equivalent of our domestic facilities’ annual electricity needs will be covered by clean wind power, helping to reach our climate commitment of decreasing our carbon footprint by 28% by 2025.” 

General Mills’ commitment to purchase green power from Roaring Fork will help to finance the construction of the Maverick Creek wind project being developed in Concho County, Texas. The project’s renewable energy credits can be applied toward General Mills’ greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and will enable the company to reduce its Scope 2 emissions as part of its target of sustainable emission levels across its global value chain by 2050. Through 2018, General Mills has reduced the greenhouse gas emissions of its extended value chain by 13% compared to its 2010 baseline; this result was announced with the release of the company’s 2019 Global Responsibility Report last week.

Daren Kaiser, global energy strategy leader, General Mills, is one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Smart Energy Decisions Distributed Energy Forum, June 24-26 at the Gaylord Rockies in Denver. For more information, click here.

Share this valuable information with your colleagues using the buttons below: