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This project is in line with others carried out with large US multinationals such as Amazon and Nike

2017-05-03 00:00:00.0

Iberdrola to build a wind farm for Apple

  • The Montague wind farm will be built in Gilliam County (Oregon) and is scheduled to be commissioned by 2020 with a power capacity of 200 megawatts (MW)
  • Iberdrola and Apple have signed a long-term power purchase agreement, through which Iberdrola will own and operate the wind farm, and supply its electricity to Apple for the next 20 years

Iberdrola's US subsidiary AVANGRID Renewables and Apple's energy subsidiary Apple Energy have entered into an agreement for the long-term sale of power generated at the Montague Wind Farm (Oregon).

Therefore, the Montague wind farm will generate clean energy for Apple for the next 20 years, and thus join the fleet of flagship wind farms that the company has implemented across the United States, such as Amazon Wind Farm US East (North Carolina), which supplies power to Amazon, or Leaning Jupiter (Oregon) and Jupiter Canyon (Washington), both of which supply power to Nike.

In the United States, contracts such as this one with Apple are referred to as ‘Power Purchase Agreements’ (PPA) and guarantee the profitability of energy facilities in this country for the long haul.

Most of Iberdrola’s wind farms in the United States were brokered through similar agreements, which have yielded great stability to the company's investments in such a strategic market, a stability that has been the bedrock for Iberdrola's commitment to the country.

With this deal, Iberdrola will own and run the Montague wind farm, whose generated electricity will be purchased by this US multinational based in Cupertino (California). Apple is a global benchmark for designing and manufacturing electronic equipment, software and online services.

Approximately US$300M is expected to be invested in the Montague wind farm, and construction of this 200-megawatt wind power facility in Gilliam County (Oregon) is scheduled to take place between 2018 and 2020.

With several Iberdrola wind farms already situated nearby, Montague's strategic location will afford new synergies when in operation.

 

Iberdrola, renewable energy benchmark in the United States

Since late 2015, Iberdrola has been operating in the United States through the company AVANGRID, which is the fruit of the friendly merger between Iberdrola USA and UIL Holdings Corporation.

AVANGRID is a New York Stock Exchange listed company (ticker: AGR) based in New Haven (Connecticut) with operations spanning 25 US States and assets worth US$31 billion.

AVANGRID’s presence in the renewables sector in the United States is one of the largest international commitments ever undertaken by a Spanish company. 

Its involvement in clean generation in the country, with nearly 6,000 MW of installed wind power, has made AVANGRID the United States' second-largest wind power operator.

In recent years, AVANGRID has built some of its most emblematic facilities in the sector in the United States, including the Peñascal complex, which is the world's largest wind power facility with a power capacity of 606 MW, and the projects currently under way in California, namely El Cabo, whose power capacity will reach 298 MW, and the 132 MW Tule project.