Nucor signs 10-year virtual PPA for 100 MW from wind farm in North Texas

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 2, 2021

Nucor Corporation has signed a 10-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Orsted Onshore North America, LLC for 100 megawatts from Orsted’s Western Trail wind farm in North Texas.

This is Nucor’s second VPPA. Last year, Nucor signed a VPPA with EDFR Renewables North America to be the sole off-taker for EDFR’s 250-megawatt Brazos Fork solar project, which is also located in Texas.

Orsted’s wind farm project is already under construction and is expected to be in service later this year. The project incorporates Nucor steel and steel products and is designed to continue generating power even during particularly severe weather.

A virtual PPA is a financial deal under which the buyer pays a set price but doesn’t directly buy electricity from the project. Power from the project is sold into the wholesale market. If the wholesale price is higher than the price in the virtual PPA, the offtaker receives the difference. If the price is lower, the offtaker pays the facility owner to make up the difference.

Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Enel enters virtual power purchase agreement with Kellogg tied to Texas wind project

Through a VPPA, Enel will sell a portion of the electricity delivered to the grid from a Texas wind energy project to Kellogg Company, Enel said on March 3.

Italy-based Enel, through its U.S. renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power North America, has started construction of the Azure Sky wind plus storage project, its first large-scale hybrid project globally to integrate wind and battery storage at one site.

Through a 100-megawatt VPPA, Enel will sell to Kellogg a 360 GWh portion of the electricity delivered to the grid annually from the Azure Sky wind project, which is equal to 50% of the volume of electricity used across Kellogg’s North American manufacturing facilities.

Starbucks enters VPPAs

Starbucks Corp. in December said it was entering into solar and solar-plus-storage VPPAs to support its corporate sustainability goals.