US telco AT&T has inked a long-term virtual Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Canadian energy giant Enbridge for the entire output of a 130MW solar project in Jim Wells County, Texas.

The virtual PPA is tied to the Orange Grove Solar project, which was energized earlier this week (June 4) and is Enbridge’s first solar project in Texas. The project comprises approximately 300,000 solar panels across 920 acres and will deliver energy into the Texas ERCOT grid.

AT&T will purchase the environmental attributes associated with the project to support a reduction in its carbon footprint and stabilize its long-term energy costs. The virtual PPA was initially signed last year and is now in force following the successful commissioning of the project.

Commenting on the project's energization, Matthew Akman, EVP of corporate strategy and president of its power business, stated: “We are pleased to be able to deliver additional zero-emission electricity into the grid in support of local and Texas state-wide economic growth and energy demand.”

Enbridge is predominantly known as a midstream natural gas pipeline firm, owning a vast network of pipelines across North America, which transports around 20 percent of all natural gas consumed in the US.

Over recent years, it has attempted to diversify its energy mix through investments in a range of low-carbon technologies. In addition to the Orange Grove project, it is currently constructing another solar farm just southeast of Abilene, Texas. The Sequoia Solar project is expected to have a capacity of around 815MW, making it one of the largest solar arrays in the US, when completed.

Despite its foray into the solar sector, the company very much remains focused on its fossil fuel production, and considers the growth of data center capacity in the US a real opportunity for the company. Speaking to DCD earlier this year, Caitlin Tessin, VP of market innovation and Gulf Coast at Enbridge, stated: “Natural gas is the only really scalable baseload option for data centers to meet short-term increases in power demand.”

The PPA with Enbridge is the latest for AT&T, which is increasingly prioritising renewable energy generation as a means to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality across its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035.

Most recently, the company inked a PPA with DSD Renewables for 15.6MW of power from a portfolio of community solar projects in New York.

Before this, in 2022, AT&T signed two solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with energy trader Vitol totaling 155MW, and in 2019, the company purchased 500MW of solar power in Texas in a deal with Invenergy.