DULUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE: ALE), announced today the start of commercial operations at its Caddo Wind site in southern Oklahoma.
The output from the 303-megawatt Caddo site is contracted to provide renewable energy to McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) and Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK) through separate renewable energy sales agreements.
“Caddo is a prime example of how ALLETE Clean Energy helps customers achieve their climate action goals by adding renewable energy to the nation’s power supply,” said ALLETE Clean Energy President Allan S. Rudeck Jr. “I am proud of our team and partners who together finalized development of Caddo and brought it to safe and successful commercial operation during a global pandemic. Their effort builds on our reputation for creating cost-effective renewable solutions for customers while driving growth in the expanding clean-energy sector.”
Caddo and ALLETE Clean Energy’s Diamond Spring Wind site, also in Oklahoma and serving Fortune 500 companies, are the company’s two largest wind sites at 303 megawatts each. Together, they produce enough energy to power about 210,000 homes. Caddo also increases the company’s total wind capacity to more than 1,300 megawatts.
“ALLETE’s sustainability in action strategy is advancing significant, long-term solutions to address climate change for utilities, cities, and corporate and industrial customers,” said ALLETE Chair, President and CEO Bethany Owen. “ALLETE Clean Energy has an exciting future as it executes its strategy to invest in and deliver clean-energy solutions while expanding its capabilities including wind, solar and storage to meet customers’ expectations.”
McDonald’s joined the United Nations Race to Zero campaign in 2021 and has pledged to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Once all of McDonald’s transacted U.S. renewable energy projects are online, including Caddo, the energy generated will be equivalent to over 8,000 U.S. restaurants' worth of electricity and is expected to contribute to a 22% reduction from the company’s 2015 baseline.
Hormel Foods, named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek and one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, recently announced its goal to match 100% of its energy with renewable sourcing by 2030. The Caddo wind site will help the company achieve about 50% of its goal.
“As a leading global branded food company and unwavering corporate citizen, Hormel Foods is committed to being an outstanding steward of our environment, including doing our part for the world’s climate,” said Mark Coffey, group vice president of supply chain at Hormel Foods. “This project is a major step toward reaching our goal and is one of many that we are undertaking as part of our ambitious 20 by 30 Challenge agenda, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”
Oshkosh Corporation has been named one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, one of America’s Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek, one of the Top 100 Most Sustainable Companies by Barron’s and is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Oshkosh’s sustainability efforts include a goal of a 25% reduction in normalized greenhouse gas emissions at its facilities by 2024 when compared with 2014.
“Oshkosh Corporation is proud to participate in this project,” said Kevin Tubbs, vice president and chief ethics, compliance and sustainability officer of Oshkosh Corporation. “In addition to adding renewable energy to the nation’s power grid, it supports our company’s goal of reducing our impact on climate change.”
ALLETE Clean Energy’s strategic deployment of wind turbines that qualify for the safe harbor provision of federal production tax credits enables Caddo’s low energy costs. In addition to turbines installed at Caddo, ALLETE Clean Energy retains a valuable inventory of safe harbor turbines, and is exploring additional opportunities to put more of them to use to serve customers.
ALLETE Clean Energy acquires, develops and operates clean and renewable energy projects and is well positioned to drive additional clean-energy sector growth. ALLETE Clean Energy owns, operates, has in its development pipeline, has under construction and has delivered build-transfer projects totaling about 1,700 megawatts of nameplate renewable capacity across eight states.
ALLETE Inc. is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota; and has an eight percent equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com. ALE-CORP
The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
