Wells Fargo Enters its Largest Solar Energy Deal

Wells Fargo has announced a 10-year structured renewable energy agreement for procuring nearly 62,000 MWh of solar energy annually to power its Texas operations.

Wells Fargo has announced a 10-year structured renewable energy agreement with Reliant, an NRG Energy company, for procuring nearly 62,000 Megawatt-Hours of solar energy annually to power a bulk of its Texas operations.

The new agreement is the bank’s largest contract to date in support of its corporate strategy to advance the development of new sources of renewable energy in order to meet its electricity needs. The new agreement will provide approximately 62,000 megawatt-hours of solar energy annually to approximately 400 Wells Fargo properties from a new utility-scale solar facility in Texas. The NRG Renewable Select plan will provide 100 percent of the bank’s total annual requirements in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region and 3 percent of the company’s national load.

The Texas facility is expected to break ground in 2020 and begin delivering clean energy to the grid in 2021.

The agreement is the first significant transaction under the firms’ strategy to contract with providers of renewable energy resources geographically close to its load centres. In this case, by greening the mix of energy sources flowing into the ERCOT grid, the transaction helps reduce overall carbon emissions and support resiliency efforts in the region. The bank is also pursuing similar agreements across the US as part of its long-term energy strategy.

“Wells Fargo is focused on continuing to demonstrate leadership in the transition to a low carbon economy,” said Richard Henderson, head of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Properties Group. Transitioning from the purchase of renewable energy certificates to long-term contracts that fund new sources of renewable energy is a critical piece of Wells Fargo’s 2020 renewable energy goal.

“Through structured retail transactions, like the one we announced with NRG, we can continue to minimise our impact on the environment while supporting the communities where we work and live,” he added.

“We are pleased to work with Wells Fargo on achieving the next step in their sustainability strategy,” said Robert Gaudette, senior vice president of Business Solutions at NRG. “Agreements using innovative retail products like this one reflect NRG’s commitment to a low-carbon energy future by supporting by both renewable developers in the market and the growing demand for clean energy by customers like Wells Fargo.”