The Home Depot has announced new investments in wind and solar for 2019.
First, the home improvement retailer will purchase enough wind energy from the Pretty Prairie Wind Project in Kansas to power about 40 stores for a year. The company also currently partners with two operating wind farms in Texas and Mexico.
The Pretty Prairie Wind Project, owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC, is located in Reno County. Through a 15-year power purchase agreement, The Home Depot will purchase 15 MW of the wind farm’s 220 MW capacity once it is operational in late 2019.
For solar, the company plans to expand its residential rooftop initiatives but has not revealed specific plans. Forty-five U.S. Home Depot stores currently have operational rooftop solar systems, and the company also procures energy from solar farms in Delaware, Massachusetts and Minnesota with a combined annual output of 25 million kWh. Last May, The Home Depot completed a 554 kW solar project at its Washington, D.C., store.
The Home Depot is aiming for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and a 50% reduction by 2035.
“Managing carbon emissions has been a focus for Home Depot for more than 10 years,” says Ron Jarvis, vice president of environmental innovation. “Our dual strategy to reduce our total energy use and create a cleaner energy portfolio has helped us to reduce our absolute carbon emissions by over 3 million metric tons since 2009.”
I wasn’t aware that Home Depot produced electricity. Are these PPAs, (Power Purchase Agreements) to reduce taxes? We know it’s to reduce taxes, wondering how.