Enel North America, a subsidiary of Italian energy company Enel, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Boston Properties (BXP), which will acquire power from its Estonian solar project in the US state of Texas.
The project is currently under construction, and Enel North America expects commercial operations to begin in “late 2024”. The facility will have an installed capacity of 202MW, alongside a 104MW battery energy storage system, and the PPA signed with BXP will see the workplace management company acquire 21MW of the project’s power output.
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“Efforts to advance meaningful decarbonisation at BXP have been centred on energy efficiency, electrification and renewable energy procurement,” said Doug Linde, BXP President. “By contracting for renewable power that is additional, we are making a positive impact by supporting the growth of renewable energy generation and broader transition to a clean energy future.”
Enel North America is building the project in Delta County, in the north-east of Texas, and follows the company’s work in the solar sector elsewhere in the state. In March, Enel North America signed a PPA with Nestle for its under-construction Ganado solar-plus-storage project in Jackson County, in the south-east of the state, and projects such as these will help the company realise its solar power goals.
The firm already manages 3.3GW of installed wind and solar capacity in Texas, and plans to add another 1.8GW of solar capacity in the coming years through projects in its pipeline.
The news follows a string of new manufacturing announcements in the US, such as Trina Solar’s decision to build a new 5GW module manufacturing facility in the country. Newfound enthusiasm for domestic manufacturing could help minimise the costs of building new solar facilities in the US, although it remains to be seen if this expanded manufacturing capacity will translate to growth in power generation capacity.