EDP Renewables North America and Meta, the Facebook parent company, have signed a long-term power purchase agreement for 156 MW at the 240-MW Cattlemen Solar Park in Milam County in Texas.
EDPR NA will construct, own and operate the Cattlemen Solar Park, which requires approximately $280 million of investment. The solar park is expected to be operational in 2023.
This is the second PPA signed between EDP Renewables and Meta. The Cattlemen project will power equivalent of more than 37,000 average homes in Texas and save approximately 304 million gallons of water annually, which would have used in conventional power generation.
The PPA doesn't mean that Meta receives the zero-carbon electricity. Instead, the investment helps finance construction of renewable projects and the deployment into the grid.
The first PPA between EDP Renewables and Meta was for a 200-MW Headwaters II Wind Farm in Indiana. The firms also partnered on the 200-MW Randolph Solar Park, which supports Meta’s data center in Mesa, Arizona. The two firms are working on bringing 495 MW of renewable energy to the grid.
“As our global infrastructure continues to grow, partnerships like the one with EDP Renewables are increasingly important for us to meet our ambitious sustainability goals,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “Investing in local communities is important to us, and we are proud that this project is bringing new solar energy to the grid, providing construction jobs, and contributing to local water savings.”
Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, CEO of EDP & EDPR, added, “Projects like Cattlemen Solar Park reinforce our commitment to accelerate the energy transition, while providing clean energy and economic support and opportunities to the local communities in which we operate.”
