Verizon unveils PPAs for 845 MW of fresh solar

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) on Thursday announced 845 MW of solar off-take deals signed over the last few months and supporting its ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations by 2035.

The virtual power purchase agreements (PPAs) were sealed since September 2020 and are part of a larger bunch of such contracts entered since December 2019 for close to 1.7 GW of capacity. The latest deals for 845 MW will enable the construction of six solar parks.

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Chicago-based Invenergy LLC will procure for Verizon 525 MW of capacity that will come from three solar projects planned to go online by the end of 2023. Those will be a 250-MW photovoltaic (PV) scheme in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) regional market and two other projects totalling 275 MW in the Pennsylvania Jersey Maryland (PJM) Interconnection market area. The term of the contracts is 15 years.

The telecoms giant has also entered a 15-year PPA to get electricity from 152.5 MW of a solar park owned by Lightsource BP, the solar power company backed by BP Plc (LON:BP). Located in Indiana, in the PJM Interconnection market, the so-called Bellflower PV plant is due to become operational in late 2022.

Under a 15-year contract with EDF Renewables, Verizon will also buy the output of a 92.5-MW solar farm, also in the PJM Interconnection market, which will be brought online late next year. Additionally, Verizon will get the electricity to be produced by a 75-MW solar plant that NextEra Energy Resources will put into service in late 2023. Again, the power supplies will be made for 15 years.

The telecom conglomerate will meet its commitments under the PPAs with funds secured from its USD-1-billion (EUR 826.2m) green bond placement last year. Earlier in 2020, Verizon announced signing off-take deals for more than 840 MW of renewable energy capacity in several US states.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.826)