McDonald's Inks Virtual Power Purchase Agreements For 189 MW From Enel's Blue Jay Solar

(RTTNews) - McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and all five members of the restaurant chain's North American Logistics Council (NALC) - Armada, Earp Distribution, Martin Brower, Mile Hi Foods and The Anderson-DuBose Company - announced Thursday they have signed agreements with Enel North America to purchase renewable energy and the associated renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Enel Green Power's Blue Jay solar project in Grimes County, Texas.

The Virtual Power Purchase Agreements for 189 MW from Enel's Blue Jay Solar is expected to cover 100% of McDonald's U.S. logistics supply chain's electricity load for all its more than 900 U.S. restaurants with renewable electricity.

The Blue Jay solar project is expected to be fully operational in 2023. Once complete, McDonald's and its suppliers' combined electricity purchase is expected to amount to an estimated average of over 470,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually.

This is equivalent to avoiding over 170,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually or the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from over 80 million trucking miles driven each year.

Enel, McDonald's and its suppliers are committed to creating long-term value in the local communities surrounding the Blue Jay solar project. The buyer aggregation was facilitated by Coho Climate Advisors.

Approximately 275 jobs have been created during the construction phase and the project is expected to generate more than $41 million in new tax revenue over its operating life for state taxing entities.