Stu Flannery – Charles River
Stu Flannery, director, Global Procurement at Charles River, has a knack for finding creative solutions to complex problems.
And it’s that passion for problem-solving that helped Stu play an instrumental role in making Charles River’s investment into a significant portion of Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ Pisgah Ridge Solar project a reality – a move that also brings the global contract research organization one step closer to achieving its ambitious sustainability goals.
Through the 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for 102 MW of energy from the 250-MW Pisgah Ridge Solar project – Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ largest solar project to date – Charles River will address the entirety of its North American electric power load with clean, renewable energy by 2030.
For Charles River, it’s a significant step toward achieving its 100% renewable electricity goal globally by 2030 and is expected to increase the company’s use of renewable electricity to approximately 60% once online in 2023.
It’s a substantial project, Stu said, and one that he’s extremely proud to have played a role in bringing to fruition.
But it’s also more than that. For Stu, the benefits of this VPPA have the ability to impact not just his organization but also local communities and regions. And it has the potential to benefit – and inspire – future generations.
“I hope that it’s something that truly does help generations to come,” he said. “We came up with this solution today, and they don’t have to, because of what we’ve done.”
