Fifth Third Bank Achieves 100% Renewable Energy With New Solar Plant

By Dieter Holger

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) said Thursday that it has powered up one of the largest solar projects in the U.S., which will generate at least as much energy as the bank uses in a year.

The Aulander Holloman Solar Facility in Hertford County, North Carolina, built by developer SunEnergy1, provides enough energy to power 25,000 homes, the equivalent of removing 143,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases a year.

Across 1,400 acres, the facility hosts more than 350,000 solar panels and generates 202,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Fifth Third is the first Fortune 500 company to power up a single solar project that achieves 100% renewable power for a company, said Greg Carmichael, president and chief executive at the bank.

The project was part of the virtual power purchase agreement that Fifth Third made in March 2018. As a result, Fifth Third said it has achieved its 2022 goal of complete renewable power three years ahead of schedule.

Write to Dieter Holger at [e-mail]; @dieterholger

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 29, 2019 10:07 ET (14:07 GMT)

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