Apex Clean Energy, a company that develops, constructs, and operates utility-scale wind and solar power facilities across North America, says Lincoln Land Wind has executed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Facebook for approximately 170 MW of renewable power from the Illinois project.
With this latest in a series of transactions, Facebook is now Apex’s largest corporate customer by MW. Lincoln Land Wind will help Facebook meet its goal of supporting its operations in the region with 100% renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75%.
“The clean energy industry has long recognized Facebook as a leader,” says Mark Goodwin, president and CEO of Apex Clean Energy.
“In its early commitment to utilizing 100% renewable energy, and now its continuing work to fulfill that pledge, Facebook has led from the front of the pack. Apex has a strong track record in enabling corporate clean energy procurement, and we’re excited that the Lincoln Land Wind PPA results in Facebook becoming our largest partner to date,” he adds.
The deal marks Apex’s third renewable transaction with Facebook in the past year. In 2019, Facebook signed a 61.6 MW PPA with Altavista Solar, Apex’s largest solar project to date, and a 200 MW PPA with Aviator Wind East, which will be part of the largest single-phase, single-site wind project in the U.S. when it begins commercial operations in the coming months. The PPA with Lincoln Land Wind will help support the tech company’s operations in the region.
The remaining 130 MW from Lincoln Land Wind will be sold to another corporate offtaker to be announced at a later date.
The project, located in Morgan County, Ill., will generate approximately $65 million in local tax revenue, $90 million in payments to landowners, nearly 400 full-time local jobs during construction and nine long-term local operations positions.
Lincoln Land Wind is expected to begin operations in 2021.
