AUSTIN, Minn. – Hormel Foods Corp. announced on April 10 it will be accessing energy produced at a new wind farm being built in Milligan, Nebraska, as part of its commitment to utilizing renewable energy sources. The new wind farm, operated by Kinect Energy Group, is expected to be completed by 2020.

“As a leading corporate citizen in our industry, we are inspired by projects that minimize environmental impacts and align with the interests of our customers and consumers around the world,” said Tom Raymond, director of environmental sustainability at Hormel Foods. “This agreement supports our company’s environmental sustainability goals and is a testament to our commitment and support of renewable energy.”

The farm will be capable of 74 MW of power and an estimated 349,000 MWh of electricity each year. Hormel Foods partnered with Kinect Energy Group to assess the project and negotiate the agreement.

“We were excited to partner with Hormel Foods to help them meet their renewable energy and sustainability goals,” said Nicholas Franco, director of sustainability services at Kinect Energy Group. “We were able to leverage our deep electric market experience to assess the project economics and negotiate a VPPA agreement that worked perfectly for Hormel Foods.”

Along with the wind agreement, Hormel is also supporting renewable energy markets by using community solar gardens at five manufacturing locations, including a co-sponsorship with Westar Energy for its first community solar garden near Wichita, Kansas. The company manufactures most of its Natural Choice bacon at that location.

“The addition of renewable energy helps to clean the electrical grid and drive sustainable food production,” said Coulter Wood, energy manager at Hormel. “We will look to lead the way in renewable energy acquisition as we continue to feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable manner.”