Iron Mountain Incorporated , a global provider in storage and information management services, has announced the signing of a wind-power purchase agreement (PPA) that will leverage renewable energy sources to power as much as 30% of its North American electricity footprint. That capacity will be sufficient to power all of its Texas operations (more than 75 facilities), as well as additional states, providing long-term rate stability and with as much as $1.5 million annually in related cost avoidance.
Under the PPA, Iron Mountain will purchase 10% of the energy produced at the 253-MW Amazon Wind Farm, a 110-plus wind-turbine project in Scurry County, Texas.
When completed in 2017, Iron Mountain’s share of the wind farm could produce up to 100,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year – the equivalent of nearly one-third its power consumption for North America.
Under the agreement, Iron Mountain will purchase 10% of the energy produced at the Amazon Wind Farm Texas, a 253-MW, 110+ turbine wind farm in Scurry County, Texas, developed by Lincoln Clean Energy, a developer, owner, and operator of clean power projects with a particular focus on wind and solar power in the U.S.
“Power consumption is an expensive and resource-consuming part of our global operational footprint , and one of the areas we’ve targeted as an opportunity to transform our business,” said Ty Ondatje, Senior VP of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, Iron Mountain. “Renewable energy strategies, along with energy efficiency, are at the heart of our efforts to deliver both savings back to the company and look for opportunities to innovate. We’ve discovered that it’s also helping us to open meaningful dialogue and collaboration opportunity with our customers who are seeking to understand and mitigate their own environmental impact.”
He added: “We believe that renewable energy strategies can benefit our business, positioning Iron Mountain and our customers to meet the growing expectations for sustainable business practices.”
This purchase, coupled with the company’s recent signing of a 15-year agreement with a wind farm in Ringer Hill, Penn., as well as ongoing investments in solar projects throughout the U.S. and Canada, have positioned Iron Mountain to use renewable sources for two-thirds of its total North American electricity load by 2018.
In addition, Iron Mountain is teaming with other corporations and non-profit organizations to support renewable energy market transformation, recently becoming a signatory to the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers Principals, a joint effort of the World Wildlife Fund and the World Resources Institute, and has joined The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewable Center, an independent initiative with a community of over 150 organizations providing resources, tools and best practices for companies seeking to execute renewable energy transactions.
“When businesses like Iron Mountain directly purchase renewable energy for their operations, they’re not only saving money and reducing their energy footprint, but also leading and signaling a shift to their peers toward greening the grid that’s so critical for addressing climate change,” said Marty Spitzer, senior director, Climate and Renewable Energy at the World Wildlife Fund.
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