Energy major Invenergy and telecom company Verizon are moving forward with power purchase agreements (PPAs) involving 640 MW of solar energy from projects across four states.
The deals announced Feb. 19 mean that Verizon now has procured more than 1 GW of power from Invenergy, the Chicago, Illinois-based renewable energy group considered the largest privately held clean energy developer in the U.S.
The agreements are for power from the Richfield Solar project in Maryland, a 50-MW facility that entered commercial operation in October 2024, along with the Maple Flats installation in Clay County, Illinois. Maple Flats is a 326-MWdc/250-MWac project.
Two other projects included in the deal are Cadence Solar, a 240-MW solar farm in Ohio set to begin operating in 2026, and the 350-MW Chalk Bluff installation in Arkansas, expected to come online in 2027. Chalk Bluff also is contracted to provide power for technology company Meta as part of a deal announced late last year. Invenergy has agreements for more than 1 GW of power with Meta, and also has power deals with Tesla and Honda, including for power from the 300-MW Delilah Solar Energy Center in Lamar, Texas, that entered commercial operation earlier this month.
Verizon will pay for electricity and receive clean energy credits through the PPAs announced Wednesday. Invenergy has said the solar projects tied to PPAs represent an investment of more than $4 billion.
Chris Orzel, a senior vice president with Invenergy, in a statement said the projects “deliver jobs and economic benefits to local communities and add more American energy to the grid.”
Invenergy in late January said it had successfully closed a $1.1-billion debt financing facility for the Cadence project, along with two other utility-scale solar projects in Indiana and Tennessee. The company said the financing package includes a construction/bridge loan facility and a letter of credit facility.
The money supports development of the Cadence project, along with the 200-MW Trade Post Solar Energy Center in Indiana, and the 150-MW Yum Yum Solar Energy Center in Tennessee. Trade Post and Yum Yum, along with Cadence, are all expected to be online next year.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.