T AT&T Inc

   By Chris Wack and Dave Sebastian 
 

AT&T Inc. (T) said Friday that its renewable energy purchases will surpass 1.5 gigawatts of clean energy capacity with the addition of new virtual power purchase agreements with Invenergy and Duke Energy Renewables, a business unit of Duke Energy (DUK).

At the Climate Week NYC event, the company said the new deals will support new wind and solar projects, and make AT&T one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy in the U.S.

The telecommunications and media company said the new renewable energy purchases will support wind and solar projects, developed by Invenergy, delivering 800 megawatts of sustainable energy, as well as 160 MWs of wind energy generated by the Frontier Windpower II project, developed by Duke Energy Renewables. The new purchase agreements build upon AT&T's existing agreements supporting wind energy centers already operational or under development.

AT&T has signed a 15-year contract with Duke Energy Renewables for the wind power project in Kay County, Okla., Duke Energy said Friday.

Duke Energy Renewables is building the 350-megawatt Frontier II project through the virtual power purchase agreement, it said.

The project's construction is under way and will start operating in December 2020, Duke Energy said.

Duke Energy said the project is an expansion of Frontier Windpower, which has been operating since 2016. The first and second parts of the project would generate 550 megawatts of wind energy, which could power about 193,000 homes, the company said.

Ball Corp. (BLL) has also committed to the Frontier II project with a 15-year, 161-megawatt project, Duke Energy said.

AT&T said its renewable energy purchases to date are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to providing electricity for more than 560,000 homes or taking 690,000 cars off the road for one year. The total annual energy produced is also enough to power New York City for one month, the company said.

The projects will create hundreds of construction jobs and dozens of permanent jobs in the clean energy field, AT&T said.

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com and Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2019 13:34 ET (17:34 GMT)

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