In December 2021, the Titan Solar Farm in West Texas began generating the electricity that will power Ascend’s acrylonitrile plant in Chocolate Bayou, Texas. Over the course of the year, the farm will generate about one-third the electricity needed to power our production from the grid.
“We’re very proud to be powering our facility with clean energy,” said Greg Blanchard, senior site director at our Chocolate Bayou plant. “This was a great way to support renewables and meet our energy needs well into the future.”
In 2019, Julian Camacho, our procurement manager for olefins and energy, was approached by Calpine about the power purchase agreement that would fund the Titan Solar Farm. He crunched the numbers and realized that the deal was not only financially feasible, but would help reduce the carbon footprint for the entire Texas power grid.
“This one project’s emission reduction is equivalent to 3,250 fewer cars on the road a year,” said Julian. “The success of this project has encouraged us to look for other opportunities with renewables at all of our sites.
We have committed to reducing our greenhouse gas footprint by 80% by 2030. While powering our plants with renewable energy isn’t part of that goal, it is part of our broader approach to sustainability.
“We want to make meaningful, lasting change,” said Chris Johnson, director of sustainability at Ascend. “Not only in our operations and environmental impacts, but also in the way we support our communities and grow the careers of our people.”
You can see the entire Titan Solar Farm in action right here. To learn more about our sustainability efforts, read our 2020 sustainability report.