08 May 2014 Mars building massive wind farm in Texas

Mars, in a partnership, is building a 200MW wind farm near Lamesa, Texas, that will generate 100 percent of the electricity needs of all of Mars’ US operations. Mars claims it’s the biggest long-term commitment to renewable energy use of any food manufacturing business in the US.

Mesquite Creek Wind will be a 118-turbine wind farm jointly developed by Mars, Sumitomo Corp of Americas and BNB Renewable Energy. It will cover 25,000 acres – about the size of the city of Paris, France, officials say – and have an annual output of more than 800,000 megawatt-hours – enough to power Mars’ 70 US sites, including 37 factories.

The energy created from the wind farm will represent 24 percent of Mars’ total global factory and office carbon footprint – equivalent to the electricity required to power 61,000 US households.

Barry Parkin, Mars chief sustainability officer, explains the wind farm in a video:

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