AT&T, Ball Corporation Begin VPPAs via Wind Project in Oklahoma

(Credit: Duke Energy)

AT&T and Ball Corporation, two companies focused on reducing carbon emissions from their global operations, are investing in the wind energy produced by the 350 megawatt Frontier Windpower II project in Kay County, Oklahoma. The wind project announced that it has just begun commercial operation. The companies each have a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for about 160 megawatts of wind power from the project.

The Frontier Windpower II project is the largest in Duke Energy Renewables’ fleet. The project is an expansion of the 200 megawatt Frontier Windpower project, operational since 2016. Together, Frontier I and II are generating a total of 550 MW of wind energy, Duke Energy Renewables says.

AT&T is working to reach carbon neutrality across its global operations by 2035. The company currently has more than 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, according to Scott Mair, president of AT&T Network Engineering and Operations. One of its tactics for reaching net-zero is to engage in power purchase agreements (PPAs) and VPPAs, which will help the company reduce its emissions footprint, hedge against rising energy costs, and help add more renewable electricity to the US power grid, the company said last year.

Ball Corporation hopes to achieve a 55% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with a significant portion of that coming from the company’s global transition to renewable energy.

Duke Energy plans to double its enterprise renewable portfolio from 8 gigawatts to 16 gigawatts by the end of 2025, the company says.

In other recent VPPA news, the Kellogg Company announced earlier this month that it has signed a long-term wind energy VPPA in North America with Enel Green Power. The agreement will give Kellogg about 360 gigawatt hours of wind electricity per year, equal to 50% of electricity used across the company’s North American manufacturing facilities.