Enel Green Power has started operations at the 245 MW second phase of its Roadrunner solar plant in Upton County, Texas. The overall 497 MW project is the largest operational solar farm in Texas and the company’s largest in the United States.
“Our engineering and construction team executed on a project of monumental scale in record time, notwithstanding today’s ongoing challenges,” said Georgios Papadimitriou, Head of Enel Green Power North America. “Enel Green Power has firmly established itself as a leader in large-scale solar generation in North America, and with a portfolio that now totals over 6 GW of renewable capacity, our strategy of steady growth in the US and Canada continues apace.”
Roadrunner will sell its energy in a 65 MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with Mondel?z International and a 70 MW PPA with The Clorox Company. The agreement is Mondel?z International’s largest renewable energy partnership and enables the global leader in snacking to make substantial progress against its goal to reduce its absolute CO2 emissions from manufacturing by 15 percent by 2020. The PPA with The Clorox Company represents about half of Clorox’s 100 percent renewable electricity goal in its operations in the US and Canada, and is expected to help Clorox accelerate achieving its goal in 2021, four years ahead of the company’s original plan. The plant’s 1.2 million bifacial photovoltaic (PV) panels will be able to generate approximately 1.2 TWh annually, avoiding the emission of over 792,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Other Enel Green Power construction projects across the US and Canada include the 181 MW Lily solar + storage project in Texas, the 236.5 MW White Cloud wind project in Missouri, the 299 MW Aurora wind project in North Dakota and a 199 MW expansion of the Cimarron Bend wind farm in Kansas.
Enel Green Power, and the Enel Group as a whole, is closely following the status of the COVID-19 pandemic and is responding, as main priority, to protect the health of its workers, employees and the community where it operates. In North America, the company has enacted strict travel guidelines, stepped up office and project site sanitation and implemented ways for colleagues to conduct their work remotely and follow safe working practices if and when on-site. At the Roadrunner construction site, crews implemented safe working practices and operations were structured to maintain social distancing as well as other best practices. Furthermore, as part of its 1.3 million US dollar commitment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across the US and Canada, the company developed initiatives to support community hospitals, schools and emergency responders in Texas.
Enel Green Power in North America is a leading owner and operator of renewable energy plants with a presence in 18 US states and one Canadian province. The company operates over 70 plants with a managed capacity of over 6 GW powered by hydro, wind, geothermal and solar energy.
