Sourcing Renewables | Page 177

PepsiCo announced Jan. 15 its plan to achieve 100% renewable energy for its U.S. direct operations in 2020 by targeting a portfolio of PPAs, VPPAs, RECs and onsite solar.

Stop & Shop will begin to power 40 of its Massachusetts and New York stores with clean energy from a 24/7 microgrid, the company announced Jan. 14.

AB InBev, the maker of beers including Budweiser, will begin to power all its European operation with 100% renewable energy through a 10-year VPPA in the largest Pan-European corporate solar deal to date.

Smithfield Foods entered into a partnership with a local utility to produce renewable natural gas from the wastewater treatment system at their Tar Heel, N.C., pork processing facility, which will then be used to power the local area.

As we look forward to the next Smart Energy Decisions event, the 2020 Innovation Summit in Houston, March 9-11, let’s look back at one of our signature events from 2019, the 4th Renewable Energy Sourcing Forum, which brought together large electric power users from commercial, industrial, institutional and government sectors, along with suppliers and utilities, all united in the goal to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy.

As we welcome the new decade, the devastating impacts of our warming world are more present than ever and the need to reduce greenhouse emissions has never been more urgent. This column from Ceres details the progress being made by companies across a variety of sectors who are pledging to reduce emissions and increase renewable energy sourcing.

Rural areas of Nevada and segments of Interstate 15 will soon be receiving electric vehicle charging sites through the second phase expansion of the Nevada Electric Highway project, which has been growing across the state since 2015.

New Jersey Natural Gas announced Dec. 18 that it has offset the emissions from its facility and fleet use of natural gas with renewable energy through Renewable Natural Gas Attributes, RECs generated from the production of Renewable Natural Gas.