ALLETE Clean Energy selling Oklahoma energy output to Smithfield Foods, others

When ALLETE Clean Energy’s Diamond Spring wind site is built in Oklahoma, its output will be sold to a variety of corporate interests, including Walmart, Starbucks and, Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Walmart will purchase 175 megawatts of output for 15 years, and Starbucks will take on 50 megawatts for the same period. Smithfield’s involvement, concluded just this week through a new power sale agreement, will consist of 75 megawatts over 12 years. The 300 MW facility will represent ALLETE’s largest wind site, as of its completion. Construction is expected to begin later this year and complete sometime in 2020.

“ALLETE Clean Energy is proud to help these leading companies meet their greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy goals through the carbon-free energy that will be generated at Diamond Spring,” ALLETE Clean Energy President Allan S. Rudeck Jr. said “In addition to adding renewable energy to meet sustainability goals, these companies also seek to lower their energy costs. Our team delivers both, with a reputation for timely, responsible, and cost-effective project execution. Directly serving the corporate and industrial power market is opening new growth opportunities for ALLETE Clean Energy.”

All involved are seeking to reduce their corporate emissions. For Smithfield, it is part of a goal to reduce emissions by 25 percent as of 2025, and in that regard, the ALLETE agreement will go a long way. Walmart seeks to reduce by 50 percent in the same timeframe.

“This partnership to source renewable energy is part of our multifaceted and comprehensive approach to reduce our carbon footprint,” Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables and hog production environmental affairs at Smithfield, said. “The carbon-free energy generated through the Diamond Spring project is projected to account for more than 15 percent of our total energy usage across the United States, allowing us to power a substantial portion of our operations using sustainable energy.”

With the addition of Diamond Spring, ALLETE will bring its total wind capacity over 1,000 MW, scattered across nine sites in seven states.