Working towards a greener future
National Grid’s Ventures business is continuing its work, on both sides of the Atlantic, to accelerate our clean energy future. Catch up on some of the latest news from their US wind and solar projects here.
While keeping energy flowing to our customers during the coronavirus crisis is crucial, our wider business is still working hard to help create a cleaner energy future for us all. National Grid Ventures (NGV) is central to this, investing in a range of innovative renewable energy projects on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the US, NGV is making exciting progress with several large-scale renewable energy projects, both onshore and offshore.
Significant new solar project in Illinois
On Earth Day, 22 April, we announced that National Grid’s Geronimo Energy team had signed a new virtual power purchase agreement with global agri-business company Cargill, for the 200 MW ‘Prairie Wolf Solar Project’ in Illinois.
This will be one of the largest solar projects east of the Mississippi, the largest in the state of Illinois and, according to the US EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, is estimated to offset carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) by 285,000 metric tons annually.
Economic and environmental wins
The project’s benefits reach far beyond environmental ones though, with an estimated $40 million economic gain over 20 years to local communities and across the state, including from tax revenues and new jobs created.
Eric Hoegger, Director of Global Renewable Energy for Cargill, said: “We’re pleased to partner with Geronimo Energy on another renewable energy project that moves Cargill in the right direction toward our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 10% by 2025.”
This follows an earlier agreement Geronimo signed with Cargill for a portion of the renewable energy provided by its Crocker Wind Farm in South Dakota.
Offshore developments
In addition to onshore projects, NGV is enabling progress in offshore renewables too; continuing its support of the Revolution Wind project located off the coast of Rhode Island, which is being developed by Ørsted and Eversource. This will supply clean power to residents of Rhode Island and Connecticut for years to come, generating over 700 MW of power.
NGV will be working with Ørsted and Eversource to connect the offshore wind farm to the onshore transmission system in the coming years; leveraging its significant experience from previous projects, including both its operational and in-construction interconnectors in the UK, which connect to Europe.
Andrew Deeley, Project Director for Revolution Wind at NGV, said: “We’re keen to leverage the vast amount of knowledge and experience, and to support the Revolution Wind project here in the States.”
