Wells Fargo Enters its Largest Renewable Energy Purchase
October 17 2019 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
10-year deal with NRG will allow Wells Fargo to power 400
locations across Texas with solar energy
Wells Fargo announced today a 10-year structured renewable
energy agreement with Reliant, an NRG Energy company. The new
agreement is the bank’s largest contract to date in support of its
corporate strategy to advance the development of new sources of
renewable energy in order to meet its electricity needs. The new
agreement will provide approximately 62,000 megawatt-hours of solar
energy annually to approximately 400 Wells Fargo properties from a
new utility-scale solar facility in Texas. The NRG Renewable
Selectsm plan will provide 100% of the bank’s total annual
requirements in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
region and 3% of the company’s national load. The Texas facility is
expected to break ground in 2020 and begin delivering clean energy
to the grid in 2021.
The NRG agreement is the first significant transaction under
Wells Fargo’s strategy to contract with providers of renewable
energy resources geographically close to its load centers. In this
case, by greening the mix of energy sources flowing into the ERCOT
grid, the Wells Fargo/NRG transaction helps reduce overall carbon
emissions and support resiliency efforts in the region. Wells Fargo
is pursuing similar agreements across the U.S. as part of its
long-term energy strategy.
“Wells Fargo is focused on continuing to demonstrate leadership
in the transition to a low carbon economy,” said Richard Henderson,
head of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Properties Group. “Transitioning
from the purchase of renewable energy certificates to long-term
contracts that fund new sources of renewable energy is a critical
piece of Wells Fargo’s 2020 renewable energy goal. Through
structured retail transactions, like the one we announced today
with NRG, we can continue to minimize our impact on the environment
while supporting the communities where we work and live.”
“We are pleased to work with Wells Fargo on achieving the next
step in their sustainability strategy,” said Robert Gaudette,
senior vice president of Business Solutions at NRG. “Agreements
using innovative retail products like this one reflect NRG’s
commitment to a low-carbon energy future by supporting by both
renewable developers in the market and the growing demand for clean
energy by customers like Wells Fargo.”
Expanding On-Site Solar
As part of its 2020 renewable energy goal, Wells Fargo also will
expand its on-site renewables portfolio by installing solar
technologies on more than 100 corporate, branch, and data
facilities across the U.S. The company currently maintains solar
arrays on 16 properties in addition to a number of ATMs.
“Maximizing our on-site solar generation is a simple way to help
reach our renewable energy goal while enhancing the value of our
significant real estate portfolio,” Henderson said. “It’s a
tangible demonstration of our corporate citizenship in the
communities where we do business.”
Financing Renewable Energy
Wells Fargo is a leader in financing large-scale wind, solar,
and other renewable energy projects. The company made its first tax
equity commitment in 2006; since then, it has become one of the
leading investors in the renewable energy space, providing more
than $7.5 billion of tax equity financing to customers in support
of more than 400 projects. In 2018, Wells Fargo made a $200 billion
sustainable finance commitment through 2030, with at least 50%
going toward renewable energy and clean technology projects. In its
first year, the company deployed $23 billion in sustainable
finance, with 63% going toward low-carbon solutions such as
renewable energy, green buildings, and clean technologies.
Achieving Renewable Energy Goals
Wells Fargo has been meeting 100% of its global electricity
requirements with renewable energy and energy products since 2017,
primarily through the purchase of renewable energy certificates,
which satisfied the first part of a two-pronged 2020 renewable
energy goal set in 2016. The company is now working to fulfill the
second part of that commitment — to transition to a higher mix of
long-term electricity contracts and significantly increase
deployment of on-site generation in order to support the
development of net-new sources of renewable energy by 2020.
About Wells Fargo
Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo
& Company (NYSE:WFC) provides banking, investment and mortgage
products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance,
through 7,500 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, and the internet
(wellsfargo.com). With approximately 261,000 team members, Wells
Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. With its
corporate philanthropy, Wells Fargo aims to pave a path to
stability and financial success for underserved communities by
focusing on housing affordability, small business growth, and
financial health, among other local community needs. In 2018, Wells
Fargo donated $444 million to nearly 11,000 nonprofits. For 10
consecutive years, Wells Fargo has held the honor of No. 1 in
workplace giving by United Way Worldwide. Wells Fargo team members
also actively support communities by donating more than 2 million
hours of volunteer time in the last year. News, insights and more
information on the company’s overall corporate responsibility are
available at Wells Fargo Stories and www.wellsfargo.com/impact.
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Wells Fargo Media E.J. Bernacki, 415-840-4469
ejbernacki@wellsfargo.com
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