Industrial materials firm DuPont has announced the operation of the Appaloosa Run Wind Energy Center, a wind energy project in Texas resulting from a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.
Located in Upton County, the project has the capacity to produce 135 MW of new wind power or about 528 GWh of renewable electricity annually. This clean energy will help avoid the carbon emissions from over 81,000 passenger cars driven each year, or the annual electricity consumption of nearly 70,000 homes, DuPont says.
The project is also expected to provide economic benefits for Upton County, including improvements to local roads, schools, and services.
With the commissioning of this project, DuPont says it has taken a step closer towards its Acting on Climate goal of reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent, which includes sourcing 60 percent of electricity from renewable energy, by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
“We are pleased that Appaloosa Run Wind is now operational and producing the renewable energy we need on our work to transition to clean energy sources and help achieve decarbonization,” said Miguel Gonzalez, Chief Procurement Officer at DuPont. “Renewable energy is a piece of an integrated climate and energy approach that helps us deliver on our purpose of empowering the world with the essential innovations to thrive.”
A virtual PPA is a contract in which the buyer helps fund a renewable project. The buyer doesn’t receive the renewable electricity directly, but gains credits to offset its actual electricity usage.
