Nike signs deal to power entire European business with wind

Iberdrola will supply 40MW from new wind farm in northern Spain, as the world's largest athletic shoe company aims to go 100% renewable.

US sports apparel maker Nike has signed a power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Spanish energy giant Iberdrola to buy 40MW of clean electricity from an as-yet-unbuilt wind complex in northern Spain.

“In 2018, we announced that we had contracted for 100% renewable energy in North America, and this latest agreement means we will be operating on 100% renewable energy across Europe by 2020,” said Nike Chief Sustainability Officer Noel Kinder. “This means we are delivering against more than 75% of our worldwide goal.”

It is the third clean-energy PPA between Nike and Iberdrola, but the first in Europe, as the world’s largest manufacturer of athletic shoes aims to become 100% renewable globally by 2025. Nike already powers all its owned and operated facilities in North America with wind power from Iberdrola.

The 40MW of wind power in Spain will come from the 111MW Cavar wind complex in Navarra province, which is due to enter construction soon. All four projects within the Cavar complex are due to be completed by 2020.

“There is a strong market in Europe for renewable PPA deals, and we anticipate securing further agreements in a number of countries in the months ahead,” said Iberdrola director of renewables, Xabier Viteri.

Iberdrola currently has more than 6GW of renewable PPAs in the US and Mexico. It already supplies Nike with 100MW of wind power from its Karankawa wind farm in Texas and 69MW from the Leaning Juniper and Juniper Canyon wind facilities in Oregon.

Iberdrola recently signed three corporate PPAs to supply solar power to Spanish companies Euskaltel, Kutxabank and Uvesco from its Nuñez de Balboa solar installation in southern Spain, which is set to be Europe's biggest PV plant, with a capacity of 500MW (DC).

7 February 2019

Leigh Collins