A 200MW portion of the 525MW Aviator Wind project in Texas has executed a power purchase agreement with Facebook.
Aviator Wind East, which will be operational in 2020, will help power Facebook’s operations in the region.
The contract will help the social networking company, which was the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in 2018, reach its goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 75% and support all its operations with renewable energy in 2020.
When fully operational the Aviator facility will be the largest single-phase wind project in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) martket and the largest single-phase, single-site wind project in the US.
Aviator is being developed by Apex Clean Energy and is owned by funds managed by Ares Infrastructure and Power.
Ares Infrastructure and Power co-head Keith Derman said: “Corporate leadership is driving the energy transition and this project fits perfectly with our value-add strategy of investing in clean energy projects.”
Facebook renewable energy manager Urvi Parekh said: “As part of our goal to support 100% of our operations with renewable energy, we want to help drive the energy transition and increase access to wind and solar power around the world.
“This project will be an important part of successfully reaching our targets, and we are thrilled to have the support of Ares Infrastructure and Power and Apex Clean Energy to bring this new wind energy online.”
Aviator Wind is Ares Infrastructure and Power’s eleventh wind investment, which collectively represents 4GW of power generation. Apex Clean Energy will provide both construction and asset management services for the project.
An additional unnamed corporate power purchase agreement for the majority of the balance of Aviator Wind, known as Aviator Wind West, will be announced at a later date.