NextEnergy Capital (NEC) has signed two separate ten-year power purchase agreements with Shell Energy North America for the sale of power from two US-based solar farms. With this deal Shell Energy North America will procure around 62 GWh of solar power each year. Also included in the deal are an equivalent amount of renewable energy certificates for five years.
The two projects, Briel Farm and Fardys Mill, are located in Virginia and will become a part of NEC’s NextPower III funds portfolio, which amounts to 250 MW. Both projects are currently under construction with commissioning anticipated by the end of 2020.
Lorena Ciciriello, managing director at NEC, described the execution of the contracts as a landmark for the institutional fund, adding that the company was delighted for the projects to support decarbonisation progress in a historically coal-centric state such as Virginia.
Shell Energy North America provides utilities, retailers and businesses with power, gas and other energy-related solutions, and has a generation capacity in excess of 10 GW. Its wider interest in solar has continued to grow. It has a goal to attain net zero status by 2050. To this end, it will invest significantly in solar PV and other renewable technologies, expanding on a portfolio of clean energy investments.
