Bank of America Purchasing RECs to Power Operations

(Credit: Doral Renewables)

Bank of America will power nearly 17% of its electricity needs through renewable energy certificates from a solar project being developed in Indiana.

The bank has agreed to a 15-year, 160-megawatt deal to purchase power and project-specific renewable energy certificates (REC) from Constellation. The agreement will help Bank of America get renewable energy from the Mammoth Central project being constructed by Doral Renewables in Indiana.

The renewable energy from Mammoth Central will help power Bank of America locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The solar energy the bank uses for these locations will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from associated energy consumption by more than 95,000 metric tons a year, Bank of America says.

The Mammoth Central project is the third phase of the broader Mammoth Solar project. The agreement will begin when construction is finished and the project is operational, which is expected by late 2024.

Bank of America says by purchasing the RECs it is helping facilitate the project’s development, which will also provide renewable energy to the electric grid. RECs are issued for every megawatt-hour of electricity generated and delivered to the grid from a renewable energy source, according to the EPA.

REC purchases are expected to soar in 2022, according to Transparent Energy. The demand has led to recent fluctuations in REC prices, priced anywhere from $1 to $7 a unit last year, according to an analysis by Edison Energy.

Bank of America will use the Constellation Offsite Renewables platform to facilitate the energy transaction.

Doral also has received tax equity financing from Bank of America for the first phase of the project, Mammoth North. That portion of the project will produce 400 megawatts of solar power.

Separate from the Bank of America agreement, Constellation and Doral have three additional REC deals in place for another 140 megawatts at Mammoth Central. The purchases in total amount to 300 megawatts at the site, which will have an expected capacity of 600 megawatts of renewable energy.

The entire Mammoth Solar facility is expected to have a capacity of 1.3 gigawatts when completed.

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