GHG Emissions, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables - July 14, 2021
Southwire Signs Renewable Agreement
Wire and cable manufacturer Southwire announced on July 14 that it has entered into a long-term renewable energy certificate (REC) purchase agreement through which it will match approximately 33% of its annual electricity use with RECs sourced from the Rayos del Sol solar project in Cameron County, Texas. Each REC represents the environmental attributes associated with one megawatt-hour of solar energy generated by the Rayos del Sol project and delivered onto the electricity grid.
Southwire’s commitment is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with its energy use by more than 80,000 metric tons each year, the equivalent of removing more than 17,000 passenger vehicles from the road in one year, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates. The deal will also contribute to Southwire’s aggressive carbon zero goal to eliminate or offset all its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2025.
“In July 2020, we announced our goal to eliminate or offset all greenhouse gas emissions from our operations, and since then, we’ve started to install visible signs of this commitment, including electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels at some of our facilities,” Burt Fealing, EVP and general counsel of Southwire, said in a statement.
The agreement is with Constellation, which has entered into a separate agreement with 174 Power Global and TotalEnergies — co-owners of Rayos del Sol — to support a 72-MW expansion of the project. (Constellation signed a 108-MW agreement in 2020 to supply three commercial customers via Rayos del Sol.) The expansion is expected to achieve commercial operation by April 2022.
For this purchase, Southwire will use Constellation's Offsite Renewables (CORe) retail power product, which will allow Southwire to efficiently address the needs of its decentralized locations, many of which are in fully regulated retail energy markets. Constellation’s approximately nine-year agreement with Southwire begins in April 2022.
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