Midwestern grocer and retailer Meijer has agreed to purchase the majority of energy produced by the Lacy Creek Wind Energy Center located in the Texas counties of Glasscock and Sterling.
Meijer had previously announced it would attempt to cut 50% of its absolute carbon emissions by 2025, according to ReNews.Biz.
“As a company, we believe it’s more important now than ever to do our part to better the environment, which is where our ambitious sustainability goal originated,” stated Meijer President and Chief Executive Rick Keyes.
The Lacy Creek Wind Energy Center, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, is currently under construction. Still, once it is completed, it will be comprised of 108 GE turbines spanning 60,000 acres across the two Texas counties. It will supply 800,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually to Meijer, per the power purchase agreement.
NextEra Energy Resources’ executive vice president for development, Matt Handel, remarked, “We are pleased to work with Meijer in alignment with their ambitious sustainability goals. This project also creates economic stimulus in Glasscock and Sterling counties in Texas, providing good jobs and additional tax revenue.”
The project is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
“While the Lacy Creek Wind Energy Center is one of multiple sustainability initiatives Meijer has underway, we’re pleased it has contributed to the accelerated progress in meeting our sustainability goal by 2025,” said Keyes.
He continued, “The impact these environmental sustainability initiatives will make in the coming years go beyond improving daily operations at our Meijer stores; they align with our values and our continued focus on being a good steward of the environment.”
However, as discussed previously in The Dallas Express, serious technological and environmental factors continue to limit the expansion of renewable energies like wind power. Advancements in battery storage technologies are still desperately needed if the country pivots away from fossil fuels.
“Both solar and wind are intermittent. Industries can’t plan production if electric power depends on the weather,” wrote energy policy analyst Peter Z. Grossman for The Hill.
He continued, “Blackouts are unavoidable with … wind because the wind can stop blowing strongly, sometimes for weeks … Blackouts can cost electric customers their lives.”
