Leading data center provider Iron Mountain teams with Birch Infrastructure and REsurety to derisk renewable energy procurement

BOSTON, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Birch Infrastructure, PBLLC, has created a customized solution that will enable data center leader Iron Mountain, Inc. to continuously and cost-effectively power its data centers in five states with renewable power. That energy, produced at the Ringer Hill Wind Farm in Pennsylvania and the Dermott Wind project in Texas, will be financially firmed up into a reliable 24/7 power solution, thereby avoiding the cost and complexity standard in traditional renewable energy purchases.

Iron Mountain had previously announced its Ringer Hill and Dermott wind power agreements in 2016 and 2017. Mark Kidd, Iron Mountain's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Data Centers, commented: "Iron Mountain's Data Center business has been powered with 100% renewable energy since 2017. Power Purchase Agreements with projects such as Ringer Hill and Dermott are a key part of that strategy. Birch has enabled us to manage the risks inherent in this type of agreement and confidently enter into additional agreements to responsibly power our rapidly growing data center footprint."     

"Utilizing risk management tools and assembling the right team is how we're able to help partners like Iron Mountain meet their renewable energy and financial goals," said Kenneth Davies, Chief Strategy Officer at Birch. "Our aim with all of our clients is to reduce the risk and uncertainty that comes with renewables while providing clean energy reliably and cost-effectively. That's what we were able to do for Iron Mountain."

To help reduce risk and costs and simplify renewable energy for Iron Mountain, Birch teamed up with REsurety, a provider of valuation analytics and risk management services in the renewable energy market. Specifically, Birch incorporated two weather-linked risk management products to improve on the standard virtual Power Purchase Agreement (vPPA) – a Settlement Guarantee Agreement (SGA) and a Volume Firming Agreement (VFA).

These tools allow corporate clean energy purchasers to limit their exposure to variability from weather and power market fluctuations while investing in offsite renewable energy. Birch executed the SGA and VFA for Iron Mountain with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty's Capital Solutions unit, in collaboration with Nephila Climate. REsurety provided the valuation and risk analytics in support of the transactions, and will serve as the calculation agent for their ongoing tracking and settlement.

"vPPAs are great tools for corporates to achieve their sustainability goals," said Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety. "Unfortunately, on their own they can result in ineffective hedges on energy consumption costs or speculative exposure to commodity markets and weather. Birch and Iron Mountain recognized these challenges, and we are delighted to have supported their transition to this new solution – ensuring Iron Mountain achieves its sustainability goals and its financial goals, simultaneously." 

About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated, founded in 1951, is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 225,000 organizations around the world, and with a real estate network of more than 90 million square feet across more than 1,480 facilities in approximately 50 countries, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of valued assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts. Providing solutions that include secure records storage, information management, digital transformation, secure destruction, as well as data centers, cloud services and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps customers lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable a more digital way of working. Visit www.ironmountain.com for more information.

About Birch Infrastructure
Birch Infrastructure, PBLLC, is a employee-owned public benefit company that partners with utilities and rural communities to reduce the cost and risk of powering the cloud with one-hundred percent renewable energy. Birch develops, structures, owns and operates utility infrastructure, thereby enabling its data center customers to improve their environmental performance without assuming the risk or complexity of the wholesale energy market.  

About REsurety
REsurety is the leading provider of valuation analytics and risk management services to buyers and sellers of renewable energy. With deep expertise at the intersection of weather and power markets, REsurety has built unrivaled databases and analytical systems that enable a more precise understanding of the value and risk of intermittent power generation. Having supported over 6,000 MW of transactions since 2015, REsurety is rapidly changing the way renewable energy is bought and sold across the globe. For more information, visit www.resurety.com.

About Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is a leading global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group. We provide risk consultancy, Property-Casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and specialty risks across 10 dedicated lines of business.

Our customers are as diverse as business can be, ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies to small businesses, and private individuals. Among them are not only the world's largest consumer brands, tech companies and the global aviation and shipping industry, but also wineries, satellite operators and Hollywood film productions. They all look to AGCS for smart answers to their largest and most complex risks in a dynamic, multinational business environment and trust us to deliver an outstanding claims experience.

Worldwide, AGCS operates with its own teams in 32 countries and through the Allianz Group network and partners in over 200 countries and territories, employing over 4,450 people. As one of the largest Property-Casualty units of Allianz Group, we are backed by strong financial ratings. In 2019, AGCS generated a total of €9.1 billion gross premium globally. www.agcs.allianz.com

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About Nephila
Nephila Capital Ltd is a leading investment manager specializing in (re)insurance and weather risk. Nephila Climate is a dedicated weather and climate risk transfer and ESG-driven business. Nephila offers a broad range of investment products focusing on instruments such as insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds, insurance swaps, and private transactions. Nephila Capital Ltd has assets under management of approximately $10.2 billion as of June 1, 2020 and has been managing institutional assets in this space since it was founded in 1998. The firm has over 250 employees based in their Bermuda headquarters, San Francisco, CA, Nashville, TN and London. Further information can be found at www.nephilaclimate.com or www.nephila.com.

REsurety disclaimer: Certain risk management tools offered by REsurety involve utilizing products and transactions regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"). Such tools involve risk and are not suitable for all clients. All information, communications, publications, reports, and other materials which may be utilized or distributed by REsurety should be construed and considered solicitations relative to entering into a derivatives transaction. Trading commodity interest products, which include swaps, involves substantial risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge, and financial resources. You may lose all or more of your initial investment. Opinions, market data, and recommendations are subject to change at any time. Past performance is not indicative of future results. REsurety does not distribute research reports, employ research analysts, or maintain a research department as defined by CFTC Regulation 1.71.

SOURCE REsurety, Inc.