Ball Corporation has announced it has entered into a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) in which Ball will purchase 151 megawatts of new wind energy from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The wind energy center will be located in west Texas and Ball's portion of the project is expected to produce 600,000 megawatt hours of clean energy annually, enough to address the electricity load of nearly half of Ball's North American manufacturing facilities.
The wind energy center, which will be owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, will support Ball's ambition to achieve its 2030 science-based targets and net-zero emissions prior to 2050. The wind energy center is expected to reduce Ball's global Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30%.
The wind energy center adds to Ball's previous wind agreements in the United States, Sweden, and Spain where electricity produced from these projects allowed the company to source 44% of its global electricity demand in 2021 from renewables. Ball aims to obtain 100% renewable electricity globally by 2030, with an interim target of 75% by 2025. With the addition of this wind energy, Ball estimates it will be 65% of the way there by 2024.
Construction on the wind energy center is underway and it is expected to begin supplying power starting in 2023.