Starbucks Buys Wind, Solar Power From Projects in Three States

(Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp. agreed to power more than 3,000 of its U.S. stores with clean energy using a system allowing companies to buy output from wind and solar farms in multiple regions.

The world’s biggest coffee chain signed contracts for 146 megawatts from plants in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas through a platform developed by LevelTen Energy Inc., the software company said in a statement Wednesday.

Big corporate buyers of clean energy typically contract for large amounts of electricity from a single wind or solar farm, which may be far from their operations. Seattle-based LevelTen’s system matches projects under development with potential buyers, allowing them to purchase smaller batches of electricity from plants closer to where they’ll use it, said Bryce Smith, the company’s chief executive officer.

“We customized the portfolio for Starbucks based on how and where it makes the most sense,” Smith said in an interview.

LevelTen announced Monday it had raised $20.5 million in Series B funding from a group of energy-focused venture capital firms, bringing its total raised to $27.3 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan, Pratish Narayanan

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