Whirlpool Corporation announced this week that it has entered into agreements with Ohio industrial power company One Energy to add wind and solar power at its Findlay and Clyde, Ohio operations. The company currently has nine onsite wind turbines at its Ohio plants in Findlay, Marion, Greenville, and Ottawa.
According to Whirlpool’s announcement, the combined turbines supply 22 percent of the electrical needs for those facilities. Once complete, company officials say the projects will ensure their Clyde and Findlay plants receive at least 70 percent of their energy needs from onsite renewable energy.
Officials say the two projects combined will create 40.8 megawatts of renewable energy, bringing Whirlpool Corp. into the top 25 percent of companies on the Environmental Protection Agency’s national Green Power Partnership list.
“Our focus on sustainability goes back over 50 years, and these new onsite installations are a significant step toward achieving our net zero target by 2030 for our operations,” said Pam Klyn, Whirlpool Corporation’s executive vice president of corporate relations and sustainability.
The solar and wind projects are expected to be online and operational by early 2025. Each turbine that Whirlpool Corp. has installed to date provides scholarship money. For the six new wind turbines, six additional $5,000 scholarships will be awarded per year to students in the local area pursuing a two or four year degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).
