General Motors signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Enel Green Power to procure 34 MW of wind energy to power its manufacturing operations. Enel Green Power is developing and constructing the 34 MW wind farm in Palo Alto, Mexico.
Seventy-five percent of the energy coming from the wind turbines will power most of GM’s Toluca Complex sitting on 104 acres, making it the company’s largest user of renewable energy. The remaining capacity will help power GM’s Silao, San Luis Potosi and Ramos Arizpe complexes.
Construction of the wind farm begins in the second quarter of 2015. When complete, more than 12 percent of GM’s North American energy consumption will come from renewable energy sources, up from 9 percent. The company’s current renewable energy use - comprised of solar, landfill gas and waste to energy - totals 104 MW against a goal of 125 MW by 2020.
GM is a founding member of the Business Renewables Center, a collaborative platform launched earlier this month by the Rocky Mountain Institute. The center aims to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement with a goal of nearly doubling US capacity of wind and solar energy by 2025.
Photo by Enel of its wind farm in Oaxaca, Mexico
