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Apex Clean Energy

Apex Clean Energy was founded with a singular focus: to accelerate the shift to clean energy. Through origination, construction, and operation of utility-scale wind, solar, and storage facilities, distributed energy resources, and green fuel technologies, Apex is expanding the renewable frontier across North America. Apex is active across the nation, and we are excited to bring you stories from landowners, communities, and our own headquarters to show you how we are accelerating the shift to clean energy every day.

Rachel Zakutansky was just a baby when she had her first seizure. In the span of a heart-wrenching minute, the Zakutanskys’ lives were forever changed. For years afterward, Rachel’s life was a cycle of school, doctors’ visits, and physical therapy to treat her epilepsy. An inquisitive young girl, she always wanted to get involved in activities, but none of the sports she tried was right—until one day, she found her fit: the Special Olympics.

Since that single carefree moment celebrating her first-place finish in the 200-yard dash, Rachel’s life has expanded exponentially beyond the school-doctor-therapy cycle. More than 15 years after that first race, Rachel still runs track and field and now plays volleyball, softball, and basketball—her favorite sport.

Apex Clean Energy is honored to support Rachel and Special Olympics Illinois through its Community Grant Program. Apex’s grant funding will help support everything from renting competition venues to purchasing health and safety equipment such as wheelchair ramps and guide ropes for blind runners.

Through the Community Grant Program, Apex works to enhance its renewable energy projects’ economic benefits for rural America, which has not always shared in the economic investment that urban and suburban communities benefit from. The program’s goal is to fund projects and programs that build healthy communities, create economic opportunity, encourage environmental sustainability, and promote education. Since 2017, Apex has donated more than $2.56 million in support of organizations across the country.

Investing in Inspirational People

America’s first utility-scale wind farm was constructed in 1980—followed shortly thereafter by the first large-scale solar farm. In four short decades, the use of clean power has skyrocketed, and it’s quickly becoming the nation’s fastest-growing new energy source. It’s also driving job creation, from manufacturing to Main Street. Today, renewable energy powers jobs for more than 415,000 Americans, and two of the nation’s five fastest-growing job occupations are in wind and solar.

In Illinois, Ford County Wind generated more than 250 jobs during construction and powered jobs across the country—from Apex Clean Energy’s headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, to General Electric’s manufacturing facilities in Pensacola, Florida, and beyond. Hear from the women and men powering America’s energy transition firsthand through their work to support Ford County Wind.

Constructing Climate Solutions—and Careers

Adam Carlson grew up on a corn and soybean farm in rural Ford County, Illinois. After a decade in the Navy, he seized an opportunity to head back to his hometown—working as a project manager on the Ford County Wind facility. Watch his story here.

Wind Stories: Bringing Opportunity Home

Apex Clean Energy was founded with a singular mission: to accelerate the shift to clean energy. Beyond our core business, it is critical for us to act and lead on sustainability. With each new gigawatt of renewable power added to the grid, and now with our new headquarters, Apex is pioneering a more sustainable, carbon-free future.

The mass-timber Apex Plaza, which features green building materials, solar power generation, and on-site battery storage, is on the cutting edge of sustainable design—mirroring Apex’s work at the forefront of the new energy economy. Apex Plaza will elevate the daily employee experience, pairing intentional design with state-of-the-art systems for a healthy work environment, all set against an inspiring Blue Ridge mountain backdrop.

Located in the heart of downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, Apex Plaza will support our daily work and deliver immediate benefits to our climate and our community—representing another significant stride in the shift to clean energy.

Apex Plaza: Sustainable from the Ground Up

As part of Apex's fall 2020 quarterly company meeting, CEO Mark Goodwin sat down for a virtual fireside chat with Jigar Shaw, co-founder and president of Generate Capital.

Goodwin and Shah covered a diverse range of topics, including:

• The trajectory of the clean energy industry, dating back to the mid-1990s and looking ahead to what’s to come for wind and solar
• The future of new technologies, such as green hydrogen, distributed generation, and storage at scale
• The current intersection of finance and policy, and the potential for a price on carbon and a national renewable energy standard
• Rising clean energy demand from corporate and industrial purchasers, and the low-carbon transition of commercial transportation

As Shah so succinctly concludes, “We’re proving every day that our best days are ahead of us.” Watch the conversation to learn more about his perspective on the future of the energy transition.

Trends Shaping the Energy Transition: A Conversation with Jigar Shah

Wind workers are on the frontlines helping keep the lights on every day. This American Wind Week, we celebrate the 120,000 employees who work in the wind industry and help ensure that all Americans have access to cheap, clean electricity. Join us as we conduct a virtual tour of a wind farm and highlight the importance of these essential workers.

Facebook Live Event: Virtual Wind Turbine Climb

Corporations are joining with rural communities to accelerate the shift to renewable energy, creating a ripple effect that benefits us all.

When corporations invest in wind or solar energy, their actions create a ripple effect of positive change. Buying clean power allows companies to source cost-competitive electricity while advancing toward their sustainability targets—but the implications and benefits of such a move are evident far beyond the head office.

Nowhere is this ripple effect clearer than in Coke County, Texas, at Aviator Wind—the largest single-phase, single-site wind farm in the United States—from which Facebook and McDonald’s are purchasing clean energy.

In a region historically reliant on revenue from oil and gas, the wind facility will generate $142 million in tax revenue, $172 million in payments to landowners, 425 jobs during construction, and approximately 30 long-term operations positions. In 2020 alone, Aviator Wind will generate $1.6 million for Coke County—equal to 72% of the county’s total expenditures a year prior. Those dollars flow throughout the area, establishing a resilient community and preserving a way of life.

The ripples, of course, extend to us all by moving the needle in the fight against climate change.

These benefits would not be possible without the dedication of every one of Aviator Wind’s partners, from the Fortune 500 to the farming families hosting turbines on their land. Hear from a handful of the many individuals who helped make this project a reality.

The Transition to Clean Energy is Uniting America

Across the nation, families, communities, and businesses face an uncertain future; in many cases, this insecurity is entirely unprecedented in their lifetimes.

Nowhere is this more evident than in America’s heartland. Multigenerational family farms are in peril, while surrounding towns and counties are struggling to balance budgets or, in some cases, continue to provide basic services.

Still, some communities are poised to rebound—because they grasped opportunity in the form of renewable energy.

Thousands of rural American towns and counties are already being sustained by the jobs and economic benefits delivered by utility-scale wind and solar energy projects. These revenue streams enable landowners and communities to persevere through the best of times and the worst of times. These projects make communities more resilient, and in times like these, resilience is endurance.

The great news? The demand for renewable energy grows every day. As a result, so does the opportunity for Americans from coast to coast.

Resilience Amid Uncertainty

Apex Clean Energy is a mission-driven company.

Beyond our work to accelerate the shift to clean energy through utility-scale wind and solar projects, it is critical for us to act and lead on sustainability. Because at Apex, sustainability is more than what we do--it's who we are.

Apex Core Values: Sustainability

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LEARNING ABOUT WIND ENERGY

The internet is home to thousands of ways to learn about what’s happening in the wind-energy industry. In the listings below, Wind Systems gives you access to webinars, podcasts, and blogs intended to advance and enhance your wind-energy knowledge. If you’d like to have your company’s information listed, send it to editor@windsystemsmag.com with “MEDIA PORTAL” in the header.

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