Enel North America has commenced operations of its 326 MW DC Stampede Solar Project in the US
Accompanied by 86 MW DC BESS, the Texas-located project uses bifacial panels
Nestlé is the sole tax equity investor in the project, its 2nd PV partnership with Enel in the US
Part of Italy’s Enel Group, Enel North America has energized a 326 MW DC solar power plant with an 86 MW DC battery energy storage system (BESS) with Swiss multinational food and beverage group Nestlé as its sole tax equity investor.
Nestlé will also purchase all the renewable energy attributes from the entire output of the Stampede Solar and Storage Project in Hopkins County of Texas. The project, according to Nestlé, will further reduce its carbon emissions in its operations and expand the availability of renewable energy.
“At Nestlé we are seizing opportunities across our business to help create a more sustainable future and achieve net zero emissions. This includes working hard to transform our operations and power our product manufacturing with more renewable electricity,” said Chief Procurement Officer of Nestlé North America, Kate Short. “Our investment in Stampede brings us within striking distance of meeting our ambition to source 100% renewable electricity at all our manufacturing sites by 2025.”
The renewable energy purchase by Nestlé is estimated to exceed 522,000 MWh/year for 15 years, which will bring down the carbon emissions at its US factories producing products such as DiGiorno®, Stouffer’s®, Coffee mate®, Purina® Pro Plan®, Tidy Cats® and more.
It previously invested in Enel’s 208 MW DC Ganado Solar and Storage Project, also in Texas (see Nestlé Invests In 208 MW DC Solar PV & Storage Project).
Enel stated that the Stampede project, equipped with bifacial solar panels, is currently undergoing final commissioning.
Recently, Enel also signed what it terms as the ‘largest announced’ solar grazing agreement executed in the US with Texas Solar Sheep. The latter will deploy over 6,000 sheep to control vegetation on more than 10,100 acres of solar land at Enel’s 8 solar power plants in Texas.
The company said this contract reinforces its commitment to agrivoltaics and proves that agriculture and solar can co-exist while ensuring optimal performance of its power plants.
In the US, Enel North America has an installed portfolio of over 10.3 GW of utility-scale renewable energy capacity, 1.3 GW of utility-scale storage and 106.9 MW of distributed energy storage capacity.
Additionally, its parent Enel Group is also working on a 3 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar manufacturing plant worth $1 billion in Oklahoma, US, with future plans to expand it to 6 GW annual capacity (see Oklahoma It Is For Enel In US).
TaiyangNews is coming to the US to host a Solar Made in USA Conference on September 9, 2024, to be held at the upcoming RE+ event in Anaheim, California. The discussion with top industry executives will revolve around competitive solar PV manufacturing in the US. Register for the event here.