Clearway brings online 419MW onshore wind farm in USA

Clearway Energy Group has completed the construction and brought online Mesquite Star, a 419 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Fisher County, Texas. Mesquite Star is contracted under an aggregation of long-term power agreements with several corporate and institutional customers, including Ecolab, Lowe’s, Intuit, and Brown University. The project was constructed by Blattner Energy, Inc., with wind turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and a tax equity investment by BHE Renewables.

Mesquite Star, located in one of the windiest corridors of West Texas, created more than 300 jobs during construction, more than a dozen ongoing jobs, and generated millions of dollars in local investments.

Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway Energy Group, said: "Mesquite Star will provide clean, affordable wind power in the Lone Star State for decades to come while supporting our customers in meeting their sustainability and clean energy goals. We thank our customers, landowners, construction partner, and the many others involved in the success of this project.”

Emilio Tenuta, senior vice president, and chief sustainability officer at Ecolab, commented: “Projects like the Mesquite Star wind farm are a crucial part of creating a resilient future for all of us. Our virtual power purchase agreement with Clearway will cover 100% of our electricity use in the U.S. and also represents an important step in Ecolab’s journey to halve its carbon emissions by 2030.”

Chris Cassell, Lowe’s director of corporate sustainability, mentioned: “Lowe’s is committed to reducing our carbon emissions footprint, and our agreement with Clearway Energy will help us to achieve our 2030 goal of reducing emissions by 40%. We are continuously making investments to improve our environmental performance, from energy efficiency in our stores to supporting renewable energy development. The 100 MW agreement will generate enough clean energy to power the equivalent of all 143 Lowe’s stores in Texas.”

Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and Brown University assistant provost for sustainability, noted: “This partnership is a key part of Brown University’s goal of getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Power we purchase from Mesquite Star will offset about 30 percent of our campus electricity and will cut our net campus emissions by 15 percent. We’re very pleased that our part of this project will contribute to a cleaner energy future.”

Sean Kinghorn, Global Sustainability Program Manager at Intuit, maker of TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint, stated: “This aggregated power agreement is a true testament to the type of longstanding collaboration and partnerships needed to make a dent in the uphill battle against climate change. The innovative structure of Mesquite Star allowed Intuit to hit our 100% renewable electricity goal 10 years early, enabling our team to launch a new climate positive goal to speed up the transition to a low carbon future. Mesquite Star is a powerful example of how energy groups, corporations, and communities can work together to reduce our carbon footprint.”