Akron’s FirstEnergy Corp. will totally power the Cleveland Indians’ baseball team’s Progressive Field with wind power.
The two sides on Friday made that announcement at the stadium in downtown Cleveland.
The baseball team will buy green power from FirstEnergy for the stadium, and Progressive Field will be the largest wind-power customer of subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions.
“With this wind power purchase, the Cleveland Indians join a small but elite group of professional teams with stadiums powered by 100 percent green energy,” said Dennis Chack, FirstEnergy’s senior vice president, marketing and branding.
The electricity will come from wind farms across the United States and will be certified by California-based Green-e as being clean, renewable energy.
The power from the wind farms goes into the electric grid, so the Indians will not be able to say that actual power used at the ball field came from a specific wind farm.
The switch to the green or environmentally friendly power will significantly reduce the carbon footprint at the ball park.
In a full season, the Cleveland Indians use enough electricity to power every home in suburban Lakewood with its 51,143 residents for one month, the parties said.
Its electric use is 23,215 megawatt hours per year, officials said.
As part of the project, Heritage Plaza — the newly renovated entryway at the stadium’s right field gate — will now be known as Heritage Plaza presented by FirstEnergy.
The plaza is the cornerstone of the Right Field District and is home to the redesigned bullpens, new historical elements and various events throughout the season.
“We’re very excited to extend our partnership with a company with such strong local ties, and by doing so help the environment,” said Indians Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Bob DiBiasio, “We’re committed to sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint, and this is another step in doing so.”