AdventHealth, a hospital system, has signed a virtual power purchase agreement with Scout Clean Energy for 90 MW of the Heart of Texas wind farm. That is exactly half of the 180 MW project. Eleven weeks later a pharmaceutical manufacturer signed for another slice. Heart of Texas is a single wind farm being sold to several corporate buyers, and the way it is being divided says a lot about who buys wind in Texas now.
Key takeaways
- Scout Clean Energy signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with AdventHealth, announced on 1 February 2024, for a 90 MW portion of the 180 MW Heart of Texas wind farm in McCulloch County, Texas.
- AdventHealth's 90 MW share of Heart of Texas is expected to generate about 380,000 MWh of renewable electricity a year, matching about 40 percent of AdventHealth's current system-wide electricity needs.
- The AdventHealth VPPA supports the hospital system's goal of using 100 percent renewable electricity by 2026.
- Scout Clean Energy, a portfolio company managed by Brookfield Asset Management, signed a second 12-year VPPA for 50 MW of Heart of Texas with Zoetis in April 2024, bringing the contracted share recorded in Leap to 140 MW of the 180 MW project.
- Among 23 ERCOT wind PPAs announced in 2023 and 2024 in Enerdatics' Leap database, the median disclosed capacity is 150 MW and none discloses a price.
What is a virtual power purchase agreement?
A virtual power purchase agreement is a financial contract, not a physical supply arrangement. The wind farm sells its electricity into the wholesale market as normal. The buyer and the generator then settle the difference between an agreed fixed price and the market price. When the market pays less than the fixed price, the buyer makes up the difference; when it pays more, the generator pays the buyer.
The buyer also receives the renewable energy certificates for the power produced. That is what lets AdventHealth count the output against its own electricity use, even though no electricity travels from McCulloch County to any of its hospitals. For a buyer with facilities spread across many locations, a virtual contract is the only practical way to match a large share of consumption with one project.
Why would a hospital system buy half a wind farm?
Because the numbers fit its target. The 90 MW share is expected to produce about 380,000 MWh a year, which AdventHealth says matches about 40 percent of its current system-wide electricity needs. That one contract therefore covers a large part of the distance to its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2026.
The output figure also says something about the project. About 380,000 MWh from 90 MW implies a capacity factor of roughly 48 percent. Capacity factor is the share of a plant's maximum possible output it actually produces over a year. On those figures, AdventHealth is buying from a productive site.
Healthcare buyers are uncommon in the Texas wind market. Leap classifies AdventHealth's contract under "Others" rather than the technology, industrial or retail categories that dominate corporate buying. The record does not disclose the contract's length or price.
How is the rest of Heart of Texas being sold?
In slices. Heart of Texas is a 180 MW wind farm with 64 turbines, connected to the ERCOT grid. AdventHealth took 90 MW. In April 2024, Scout signed a 12-year VPPA with Zoetis, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, for a further 50 MW. That brings the contracted capacity recorded in Leap to 140 MW, or about 78 percent of the project. The remaining 40 MW has no buyer on record.
Selling a single wind farm to several buyers is common in Texas, where projects are often larger than one corporate customer needs. It lets the developer match each slice to a buyer's consumption, and spread counterparty risk across several balance sheets rather than one.
Scout is a substantial platform behind the project. It holds about 1,000 MW of operating and under-construction wind and a pipeline of more than 19,000 MW of wind, solar and storage across 22 states. Heart of Texas also carries tax incentive agreements with McCulloch County, the McCulloch County Hospital District and Lohn Independent School District, with an estimated lifetime economic impact of $36 million.
How does AdventHealth's contract compare with other Texas wind PPAs?
It is smaller than the typical deal, but a large share of its project. Enerdatics' data shows 23 wind PPAs in ERCOT announced across 2023 and 2024. Nineteen disclose capacity, and the median is 150 MW, so the 90 MW AdventHealth contract sits below the middle of the range. The largest is Microsoft's 446 MW deal with RWE for Peyton Creek II and Lane City. Only nine of the 23 disclose a term, and none discloses a price.
Tenor is one of the few contract terms that buyers in this market do reveal, and it varies widely. CPS Energy's 25-year Exodus 1 solar contract sits at the long end for Texas, while the nine wind terms disclosed in Leap run from two to 15 years. Zoetis's 12-year contract for its share of Heart of Texas falls in the middle of that range.
What does the deal signal for Texas wind?
It signals that the buyer base for Texas wind is widening beyond technology companies. Technology companies such as Microsoft and Amazon still sign some of the largest contracts, but hospital systems, drugmakers, food companies and manufacturers now take slices of the same projects. For developers, that widens the pool of potential buyers for every new megawatt.
It also signals how contract length shapes asset value over time. A wind farm sold on contracts of 12 years or so will face re-contracting while its turbines still have years of output left. That stage of life is already trading in Texas: buyers are taking on ageing Texas wind with a short PPA tail and treating the end of a contract as an opportunity rather than only a risk.
Frequently asked questions
What did AdventHealth sign with Scout Clean Energy? AdventHealth signed a virtual power purchase agreement, announced in February 2024, for a 90 MW portion of Scout Clean Energy's 180 MW Heart of Texas wind farm, expected to produce about 380,000 MWh a year.
Where is the Heart of Texas wind farm? The Heart of Texas wind farm is a 180 MW project with 64 turbines in McCulloch County, Texas, connected to the ERCOT grid and owned and operated by Scout Clean Energy.
Who owns Scout Clean Energy? Scout Clean Energy is a portfolio company managed by Brookfield Asset Management, with about 1,000 MW of operating and under-construction wind assets and a pipeline of more than 19,000 MW.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
