Technology company Cisco is among the groups involved in six virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) to secure energy from two solar power plants being developed in Texas.

Sustainability Roundtable, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating the development and adoption of best practices in more sustainable business, on March 12 announced a new aggregated procurement from the VPPAs through its Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB). The transaction procures 172 MW of purchaser-caused energy attribute certificates, or PC EACs, from Star Dairy and Rosebud, two Texas solar plants to be developed by X-ELIO, a Brookfield Renewable asset.

X-ELIO specializes in the development of renewable energy projects with a global presence in Spain, Italy, the U.S., Japan, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The company has built more 3 GW of generation capacity.

The corporate buyers in the VPPAs include Cisco, Biogen, IDEXX Laboratories, and Waters Corp. The transaction, closed late last year, accomplished several goals, including:

• Enabled the NZCB to exceed its goal of helping participating companies cause more than a gigawatt of new renewable energy before 2025.
• Contributed to the more than $1.5 billion for new clean energy the NZCB has facilitated.
• Advanced the NZCB to its recently announced goal of causing 10 GW of new renewable energy capacity through 2030, starting with the NZCB Next Gigawatt of Advanced Market Commitments before SR Inc’s Summit for Sustainable Business IX in Denver, Colorado, in March 2026.

The NZCB’s confidential buyer community leverages a “VPPA 2.0” approach, which improves buyer risk management by optimizing VPPA process and transaction structure. Centering on a Reverse Auction, transparent to NZCB’s high-credit buyers and blind to sellers, the process procures PC EACs, whose long-term model enables the financing and development of renewable energy projects.

NZCB Members through their VPPA 2.0 participation have made the NZCB a leading buyer-only platform for aggregated utility-scale renewable energy procurement in the U.S. and Europe. Each corporate buyer will apply their PC EACs from Star Dairy Solar and Rosebud Solar toward its emissions reduction goals.

“Biogen, Cisco, IDEXX, Waters are the stars of this aggregated procurement,” said Jim Boyle, founder and CEO of Sustainability Roundtable. Boyle told POWER, “Their visionary clean energy leadership across multiple Net Zero Consortium for Buyers VPPA 2.0 transactions helped push the NZCB to exceed its goal of causing more than 1 GW of new utility-scale clean energy before 2025—an achievement that catalyzed over $1.5 billion in new clean energy financing. This collective success demonstrates how NZCB’s VPPA 2.0 transaction, with its emphasis on reverse auctions, can democratize utility-scale clean energy for high-credit enterprises beyond the world’s largest energy users.”

Cisco, a global leader in security and networking technology, entered into a VPPA for 50 MW of the Star Dairy solar project and 50 MW of the Rosebud solar project. This aggregated renewable energy procurement, Cisco’s third with the NZCB, advances Cisco’s goal to reach net zero across its value chain by 2040.

Biogen, a biotechnology company, will procure PC EACs from 12 MW of the Star Dairy solar project and 23 MW of the Rosebud solar project. This aggregated renewable energy procurement, Biogen’s second with the NZCB, contributes to Biogen’s 100% renewable energy commitment, which it has maintained since 2014.

IDEXX Laboratories, a global company focused on pet healthcare innovation, will procure PC EACs from 20 MW of the Star Dairy solar project. This aggregated renewable energy procurement, IDEXX’s second with the NZCB, supports its goal of procuring 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

Waters Corp., which focuses on analytical instruments, separations technologies, and software serving the life, materials, food, and environmental sciences, will procure PC EACs from 17 MW of the Star Dairy solar project.

“As Cisco looks to reach its net zero target across its value chain, aggregated renewable energy procurements with other corporate buyers figure significantly in our renewable energy transition approach,” said Andy Smith, director of Energy, Employee Health and Safety and Technology at Cisco. “Joining other buyers enables us to spread our procurement across multiple transactions, diversifying our renewable energy portfolio in a way that decreases risk and increases cost-effectiveness. We are delighted to work with NZCB buyers to cause new clean energy capacity.”

Boyle said the NZCB high-credit buyers “repeatedly demonstrate that economic and intellectual collaboration between the smartest companies can cause new clean energy at scale. VPPA 2.0, which NZCB buyers helped invent, is growing rapidly thanks to their enthusiastic participation. With multiple transactions underway across North America and Europe, we are committed to extending our 100% completion rate.”

Star Dairy and Rosebud expect to achieve commercial operation in July 2027. Projections anticipate the six individual VPPAs will yield about 367,000 PC EACs annually throughout the contract’s 12-year duration.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.