Enel serves up green energy for food giant Kellogg with wind and battery storage project

The renewables arm of Italian group Enel is building a hybrid wind and battery storage facility in Texas, under a deal to help food company Kellogg meet its green energy goals.

Enel Green Power North America will sell a portion of the electricity delivered to the grid from the Azure Sky wind project to Kellogg under a virtual power purchase agreement.

Azure Sky – a 350 MW wind farm paired with around 137 MW of battery storage – is the company’s first large-scale hybrid project globally to integrate wind and battery storage at one site.

Enel said it will sell a 360 GWh portion of the electricity delivered to the grid annually from Azure Sky, which is equal to 50% of the volume of electricity used across Kellogg’s North American manufacturing facilities.

'Energy transition'

The 79 wind turbines at the Azure Sky project, in Throckmorton County, are expected to generate more than 1,300 GWh each year, which will be delivered to the grid and will charge the battery at the same facility.

The expected annual electricity generated by the project is equivalent to avoiding the emission of more than 842,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, Enel said.

Enel Green Power CEO and head of the group’s Global Power Generation business line, Salvatore Bernabei, said: "As our first large-scale project to pair wind and storage, and our largest hybrid plant globally, Azure Sky demonstrates Enel’s continued commitment to leading the energy transition towards a 100% renewable powered electric grid.”

The deal will support Kellogg’s efforts to achieve more than 50% renewable energy and reach 50% of its global ‘Better Days’ goal – to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 65%. Scope 1 emissions include on-site fossil fuel combustion and Scope 2 includes emissions resulting from electricity generation purchased from utilities.