ALLETE Clean Energy signs wind agreement with McDonald’s

ALLETE Clean Energy struck an agreement with McDonald’s Corp. for 200 megawatts of wind energy from the Caddo wind site ALLETE is building in southern Oklahoma.

“We’re honored to help McDonald’s advance its climate action goals while developing a project that will bring sizable economic benefits to rural Oklahoma,” ALLETE Clean Energy President Allan Rudeck Jr. said. “As corporations increasingly look to reduce carbon emissions through wind energy purchases, they also help build and strengthen local economies and diversify the nation’s power supply. Stable state and federal energy policy and local landowner and community support are foundational as we continue to deliver clean energy solutions to help customers achieve their sustainability goals.”

The 300-megawatt Caddo site will double ALLETE’s Clean Energy’s capacity to serve the accelerating corporate demand for clean energy. The project will produce more than $50 million in tax revenue, $54 million in payments to landowners, and create about 200 construction jobs along with 12 to 15 long-term operations jobs. Caddo has approximately 110 turbines and will produce enough energy to power the equivalent of about 110,000 homes. It increases ALLETE’s Clean Energy’s total operating, under construction, and build-transfer wind energy projects to more than 1,450 megawatts of capacity.

The agreement is part of a plan by McDonald’s to address climate change. In collaboration with franchisees and suppliers, the company plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to McDonald’s restaurants and offices by 36 percent by 2030.

“The Caddo project is an important addition to McDonald’s growing portfolio of renewable energy investments as part of our commitment to climate action,” Emma Gillespie Cox, head of North American Sustainability at McDonald’s, said. “ALLETE Clean Energy is a valued partner whose wind energy expertise helps us expand our impact on the environment, while also ensuring the access to and economic benefits of clean energy production for communities across the United States.”

The Caddo site is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.

“The Caddo project is a bright example of ALLETE’s strategy of sustainability in action,” ALLETE President and CEO Bethany Owen said. “Corporate commitment to clean energy is driving a substantial percentage of growth in the renewable energy sector, and ALLETE Clean Energy is increasingly seen as a proven, trusted partner in bringing more wind energy online.”

ALLETE Clean Energy is a subsidiary of ALLETE Inc., an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minn.