Invenergy, a leading privately-held global developer and operator of sustainable energy solutions, announced a 1,310-megawatt solar energy generation facility that will be the largest in the U.S. upon completion. Currently under construction in northeast Texas, the Samson Solar Energy Center will support the sustainability objectives of five major consumer brands – including Honda – and supply power to three Texas municipalities.

Last year, Honda announced long-term virtual power purchase agreements (VPPA) for renewable wind and solar power that will cover more than 60% of the electricity Honda uses in North America. The Invenergy project is one part of that as Honda seeks to slash CO2 emissions from its North American manufacturing operations.

“Honda’s long-term power purchase agreements for large scale renewable energy will help us to achieve our CO2 reduction goals and our vision for a carbon-free society,” said Jessalyn Ishigo, Renewable Energy Lead at American Honda. “Our 200 MW VPPA with Samson Solar Energy Center will generate 482,000 MWh/year of power that will reduce the CO2 emissions from our U.S. auto manufacturing operations by adding more clean energy into the nation’s electricity grid.”

Honda has also purchased 530,000 MWh/year from 120MW of wind power generated by the Boiling Springs Wind Farm in Oklahoma, which is due to begin operation next month.

Samson Solar will be constructed in five phases over the next three years, with each phase commencing operation upon completion. The full project is slated to be operational in 2023. Once fully operational, these VPPAs will offset more than 800,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions annually, the equivalent of 100,000 U.S. households worth of CO2e emissions from household energy usage1.

1 Based U.S. EPA carbon equivalencies calculator. Does not include emissions from transportation or household food consumption. (https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator)

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