Enel Adds Mars Inc. to Growing List of PPAs for Renewable Power

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Enel North America, a subsidiary of Enel SpA (Rome, Italy), recently signed its largest power purchase agreement (PPA) yet with a commercial customer. Mars Incorporated (McLean, Virginia), which runs a variety of food and pet-care brands, will account for the full output of three Enel-owned solar plants in Texas. The deal is the latest in a string of PPAs for Enel. Industrial Info is tracking more than $14 billion worth of active and proposed projects featuring Enel North America's services, more than half of which is attributed to solar developments.

The Mars announcement follows the completion of construction earlier this year on Enel's Estonian Solar Plant in Cooper, Texas, a 202-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility that features a 125-MW battery energy-storage system (BESS). To date, Enel has signed PPAs with at least two publicly traded companies: BXP Incorporated (Boston, Massachusetts), a commercial real estate developer, and Capri Holdings Limited (New York, New York), the parent company of luxury fashion names like Versace, Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project and Plant databases can learn more from a detailed plant profile.

Enel North America is one of the largest renewable-energy operators in Texas: Of its 7.3-plus gigawatts (GW) of PPA-contracted capacity across the U.S. and Canada, about 5 GW of installed wind and solar capacity and 1.3 GW of installed battery-storage capacity supports the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

Despite federal legislative pushback against renewable energy in the U.S., notably in the rollback of tax credits in the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Enel recently adopted a three-year plan to raise its PPA-contracted capacity across North America to 11 GW of wind and solar assets. Among its projects nearing completion in Texas is the Ables Springs Solar & Storage Plant in Terrell, just east of Dallas, which includes a $210 million solar plant and a $95 million BESS unit.

The 150-MW solar plant and 100-MW BESS unit will be located near Enel's Lily Solar & Storage Plant in Scurry, which began operations in 2021 and was the company's first facility to integrate solar and battery storage. Subscribers can read detailed plant profiles on Ables Springs and Lily, and can read detailed project reports on Ables Springs' solar and BESS components.

It is not yet known which active or proposed solar facilities will supply energy to Mars, whose Mars Wrigley Confectionery Plant in Waco, Texas, is a major hub for its candy and snacks business. Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Food & Beverage Plant Database can learn more from a detailed plant profile.

Other Enel customers include Meta (Menlo Park, California), the parent company of Facebook, which earlier this year signed a PPA for 115 MW of energy from the Rockhaven Windfarm in Hennepin, Oklahoma. Meta will use the arrangement to fuel one of its data centers, its third such PPA with Enel; in 2018, Meta agreed to buy energy from the Rattlesnake Creek Windfarm in Allen, Nebraska, and in 2023 to buy energy from the Alta Windfarm in Clinton, Illinois. Subscribers can read detailed profiles of the Rockhaven, Rattlesnake and Alta windfarms.

"As power demand increases due to electrification, data centers and AI [artificial intelligence], with nearly 25 years of clean-energy leadership, Enel is ready to meet this opportunity with a portfolio of clean-power projects and demand response offerings," said Stephen Pike, the head of Enel North America, in a press release accompanying the Meta deal.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for active and proposed projects featuring Enel North America's services.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).