Merck Advances Clean Energy Goals with Invenergy
April 17, 2018 8:00 am ET
KENILWORTH, N.J., April 17, 2018 – Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held renewable energy company, today announced a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) that adds 60 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy to the electrical grid and supports Merck’s environmental sustainability goals. The electricity will be generated from Invenergy’s Santa Rita East wind farm, located approximately 70 miles west of San Angelo, Texas.
This VPPA significantly advances Merck’s progress toward achieving its 2025 goal to have more than 50 percent of the company’s purchased electricity come from renewable sources. The company aims to have 100 percent of its purchased electricity come from renewable sources by 2040.
“We have a responsibility to use our resources wisely as we drive innovation in global health care while protecting and preserving the planet and our communities,” said Danielle Menture, vice president, Global Safety & Environment, Merck. “Our sustainability goals address the rising expectations of our stakeholders about the environmental impacts of our operations, energy use, supply chain and packaging.”
To achieve the company’s renewable energy goals, Merck employs a balanced, global strategy that includes a variety of levers, such as VPPAs, third-party provided green power and on-site installations. This VPPA represents approximately 60 MW of new wind power delivered to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market. It will also enable the development of a new wind asset and reduce Merck’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons per year over the life of the 12-year agreement. This equates to removing more than 20,000 passenger vehicles from the road on an annual basis.
“We are delighted to partner with Merck to provide them with clean energy from our Santa Rita East wind farm, and we applaud their 100 percent renewable energy commitment,” said Invenergy’s Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer Jim Shield. “This agreement underscores Invenergy’s leadership in delivering clean energy solutions to global companies that are focused on improving the sustainability of their operations and business practices.”
Since 2015, Invenergy has partnered with more than ten corporate customers to develop over 1,100 MW of new renewable energy capacity. As a privately held, full-service energy solutions provider, Invenergy has the unique ability to be creative when it comes to solving complex energy challenges for corporate customers.
The Santa Rita East wind farm is expected to be online in 2019, and will create up to 300 jobs during construction, and 12-15 permanent jobs once operational. Merck’s global renewable energy advisor, Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services, conducted a competitive project solicitation for Merck and supported the financial analysis to ensure the project’s long-term success. Merck collaborated with the Business Renewables Center, an initiative of the Rocky Mountain Institute, which is a member-based platform that streamlines and accelerates corporate purchasing of off-site, large-scale wind and solar energy.
About Merck
For more than a century, Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world – including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA
This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.
The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov)
About Invenergy
Invenergy drives innovation in energy. Invenergy and its affiliated companies develop, own, and operate large-scale renewable and other clean energy generation and storage facilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Invenergy’s home office is located in Chicago and it has regional development offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Poland and Scotland.
Invenergy and its affiliated companies have developed more than 18,900 megawatts of projects that are in operation, construction or contracted, including wind, solar, natural gas-fueled power generation and energy storage projects. For more information, please visit www.invenergyllc.com.
Merck Contact:
Doris Li
(908) 740-1903
Invenergy Contact:
Mary Ryan
(312) 582-1424
