The University of Arizona has reached an agreement with Tucson Electric Power Co. that will provide the school with 100% renewable energy for a period of 20 years.
Under the terms of the agreement, the university's Tucson, Ariz., campus would be powered by wind and solar-plus-storage generation resources, the university said in a news release Aug. 22.
Under an agreement that still must be approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, the university will receive a portion of the output of the 247-MW Oso Grande Wind Project, located southeast of Roswell, N.M., in Eddy County, N.M., and the 100-MW Wilmot Energy Center, a solar project which will include a 30-MW storage system, located southeast of Tucson in Pima County, Ariz.
Tucson Electric, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., has already contracted for the output of the two plants from their developers. EDF Group is building the wind project, and NextEra Energy Inc. is developing the solar/storage facility. Both are expected to be in service by the end of next year.
The university did not specify how much of the output from each facility it will obtain but said it will be enough to offset all of its "scope two" greenhouse gas emissions, which are emissions resulting from the generation of electricity, heat or steam purchased from a utility provider.
