Record purchase of wind power credits from Wells Fargo & Company

Financial powerhouse Wells Fargo & Company is to offset 40% of its electricity consumption for three years through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (REC) linked to 550 million kilowatt hours of wind power production. Without disclosing the sum, the company says it is the largest corporate purchase of renewable energy in the US to date. Kathleen Hogan from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the company "is now the top corporate purchaser among EPA's Green Power Partners to purchase clean, renewable energy." Wells Fargo's Green-e-certified RECs are supplied by 3 Phases Energy, a green credits broker. The diversified financial services company has done more than support wind energy through REC purchases. It recently invested in a 125 MW Airtricity wind plant in Texas by shouldering a shared $120 million in project equity investment alongside GE Energy Financial Services and Fortis Capital. Construction of the Forest Creek Wind Farm began in April and is scheduled for completion by the end of the year on a site 25 miles southeast of Big Spring in a remote area of vast ranch land primarily used for grazing livestock. Forest Creek is using 54 Siemens MKII 2.3 MW turbines and is Airtricity's first major wind project in the US.