Kimberly-Clark signs agreement with EDF and Invenergy for 225 MW of wind power

Kimberly-Clark has entered long-term power purchase agreements to take 120 MW or 78 percent of electricity to be generated by the Rock Falls Wind project being developed by EDF Renewables in northern Oklahoma and 125 MW or 42 percent of the electricity to be generated by the Santa Rita Wind Energy Center being built by Invenergy in West Texas.

The renewable energy supplied by the wind farms is equivalent to about one-third of the electricity needs of Kimberly-Clark's North American manufacturing operations and will enable the company to surpass its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal four years earlier than anticipated.

The 154 MW Rock Falls Wind project will become operational by the end of 2017, and the 300 MW Santa Rita facility is expected to begin commercial operation by the second quarter of 2018. Renewable Choice Energy helped broker the two agreements.

Lisa Morden, Global Head of Sustainability at Kimberly-Clark, said:

"These agreements mark Kimberly-Clark's first use of utility-scale renewable energy and are a step-change in our energy and climate strategy to reduce climate change impacts, improve operating efficiency and benefit cost savings. Adding wind-generated electricity to the energy mix will enable the company to achieve more than a 25 percent reduction in GHG emissions in 2018, which is four years ahead of the original 2022 target to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels."

"These two renewable energy projects, combined with a number of other energy initiatives across the company, put Kimberly-Clark on-track to deliver significant multimillion dollar cost savings from energy and climate projects by 2022. It's a powerful demonstration of sustainability initiatives having both great environmental and business benefits."