To this end, the company has signed a power purchase agreement to buy 160MW of electricity from Infinity Renewables’ Solomon Forks Wind Project in Kansas. This wind farm is expected to begin operations early next year.
The Solomon Forks project is T-Mobile’s second major wind power project, with the first being the Red Dirt Wind Project in Oklahoma, operated by Enel Green Power. This project started commercial operations in December, last year.
The wind farms generate a total of 320MW, which are expected to be enough to be power about 60% of the company’s total energy needs across the nation.
T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere said: “It’s the Un-carrier way to do the right thing by our customers, and moving to renewable energy is just a natural part of that.
“And it’s not just the right thing to do – it’s smart business! We expect to cut T-Mobile’s energy costs by around $100m in the next 15 years thanks to this move.”
For powering 100% of its operations through renewable energy, T-Mobile stated that it will buy enough power annually to account for every unit for electricity that the company consumes.
T-Mobile joins other corporate organizations including Nike, Google, Microsoft and Facebook which have joined RE100, a collaborative, global initiative uniting over 100 influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
The Climate Group, RE100 head Sam Kimmins said: “It’s great to see T-Mobile US shifting to renewables for its power consumption. As a large electricity consumer in the US, they can truly transform energy systems by bringing significant renewable capacity online – all of that while delivering real value to their customers.”
Image: T-Mobile to power 100% of operations from renewable power. Photo: Courtesy of Miguel Arbe/FreeImages.com.
