HOUSTON : Sempra Infrastructure and Silicon Valley Power (SVP) announced they have entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the long-term supply of renewable energy to the City of Santa Clara, Calif., from the proposed Cimarrón wind project, Sempra Infrastructure’s cross-border wind generation facility under development in Baja California, Mexico.
Cimarrón is expected to be a 300-megawatt (MW) wind generation facility that utilizes Sempra Infrastructure’s existing cross-border high voltage transmission line to interconnect and deliver clean energy to the East County Substation in San Diego County.
“We are excited to work with the City of Santa Clara, home to some of the world’s largest technology companies, to provide access to renewable energy that can help meet their energy demands while supporting their sustainable energy goals,” said Justin Bird, CEO of Sempra Infrastructure. “This agreement underscores our commitment to advancing the development of our North American clean energy portfolio as we continue to help create a cleaner energy future.”
“Silicon Valley Power continues to make strategic long-term investments in clean energy and add diverse energy resources to our power portfolio,” said Manuel Pineda, Chief Electric Utility Officer of Silicon Valley Power. “We are excited to partner with Sempra Infrastructure to add clean energy resources to help meet our sustainability and climate goals.”
Cimarrón is being developed to include approximately 60 wind turbines with a capacity to produce enough energy equivalent to the annual energy consumption of more than 84 thousand homes and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 210,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) per year. The construction of the new facility is expected to create more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs in Mexico with additional local community investment under Sempra Infrastructure’s framework for corporate giving as part of the company’s commitment to the communities where it operates.
The development of Cimarrón is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including securing all necessary commercial agreements and permits and other factors, including reaching a final investment decision.
Advancing cleaner energy
As one of the leading producers of clean energy in Mexico, Sempra Infrastructure is focused on developing infrastructure to support the deployment of cleaner energy and the expansion of energy networks in North America. Sempra Infrastructure owns and operates more than 1,000 MW of renewable capacity from two wind generation facilities and five solar parks. All together, these projects generated over 2.5 million MWh of net renewable energy in 2021, equivalent to reducing emissions by more than 1 million tons of CO2.
