June 13, 2017
Risk, Economics and Sustainability: General Mills Creating New Wind Renewable Energy
By Edison Energy
On June 8, General Mills announced the signing of a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Renewable Energy Systems (RES) for 100-megawatts (MW) of its Cactus Flats wind project. Altenex, an Edison Energy company providing renewable energy advisory services, assisted General Mills in selecting this project, providing both analytics and diligence support to ensure the project met the global food company’s specific objectives and criteria.
This new wind project will produce both electricity and renewable energy credits (RECs) for General Mills. The RECs will be applied toward the company’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, helping General Mills reduce its Scope 2 emissions as it works towards its emissions reduction targets.
“General Mills has been a corporate leader in setting sustainability targets,” says Duncan McIntyre, President of Altenex, noting its participation in the 2016 CDP Climate A-List, its membership in the Ceres Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) Network and in The Sustainability Consortium. “This new wind PPA underscores their leadership in meeting already impressive targets,” he adds.
The Altenex Supply team identified Cactus Flats as part of a shortlist of new renewables projects that might meet General Mills’ selection criteria. The Supply team leveraged the Altenex Marketplace™ — a proprietary database that tracks the key development, economic, and risk profiles of 5,000 renewable (wind, solar, biomass, landfill gas and hydro) projects across North America.
General Mills is helping to create new renewable energy, and helping to create new renewable energy jobs.”
Duncan McIntyre President, Altenex, an Edison Energy Company
Altenex ran every shortlisted project through the company’s comprehensive risk analytics engine to analyze more than 100 layers of data for each project; weighing for risk, economics and sustainability, among other factors. This provided General Mills with a refined, quantitative evaluation to support their ultimate selection and execution process.
“General Mills is helping to create new renewable energy, and helping to create new renewable energy jobs,” says McIntyre. An estimated 250 jobs in clean energy will be created during the peak of Cactus Flats’ construction, funded in part by the General Mills’ investment.
General Mills is setting an example for what’s possible in the market: By engaging with a renewable energy project, it is creating new, clean energy generation in the U.S., supporting new clean energy jobs and a sustainable environment for everyone.
For more information on General Mills’ ambitious climate commitment, visit its 2017 Global Responsibility Report and Taste of General Mills blog.