Some of Kansas City’s largest employers are making a significant positive impact on advanced energy production and products.

Ford Motor Co.
Ford Motor Co. announced it will invest $100 million and create 150 new jobs at its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, MO to build an all-electric version of its Transit van, helping the company achieve its goal to transition all fleet vehicles to zero emissions. Ford employs 7,250 in the KC region.

Evergy
Evergy unveiled in August a new five-year, $4.8 billion strategic plan. The plan will advance its transition to cleaner energy through the Sustainability Transformation Plan and increase access to renewable energy. That will mean Evergy has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions 85% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

Evergy also continues to invest in its Clean Charge Network, one of the largest networks of EV charging stations in the United States, with nearly 2,000 charging ports powered by renewable energy throughout Kansas and Missouri. The Clean Charge Network propels our region to being one of the nation’s leaders in electric vehicle adoption.

Advanced Energy in KC
Kansas City will play an important role in the green power revolution that is happening now. Here are a few highlights that make KC a major player in the Advance Energy sector: 

• Bioenergy
  The Kansas City region is leading the nation in the production of biofuels with 50% of the current U.S. bioenergy (biodiesel and ethanol) capacity existing within a 300-mile radius of Kansas City, according to Ethanol Producer and Biodiesel magazines. 

• Wind Energy
  KC is located at the most-central point of North America’s Great Plains Wind Corridor which stretches from the Canadian border south into Texas. Wind energy powered 7% of the nation’s electricity, but in KC, wind energy is the single largest source of electricity generation.

• Renewable Energy
  MRIGlobal, headquartered in KC, operates the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC) which is the largest test facility for solar technologies in the U.S. NREL advances the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable power technologies and provides the knowledge to integrate and optimize energy systems.
  
  Even the creative community is finding ways to get involved. KC-based singer and songwriter AY Young (or AY Musik), who has opened for artists Wiz Khalifa, SHAGGY, T-Pain, Flo-rida, Aaron Carter and others, learned that more than 1 billion people lack access to electricity. AY pioneered a tour powered solely by renewable energy while raising awareness about sustainability, and fundraising to bring people electricity. Thus, the Battery Tour was born and has plugged in 17 countries to date. 

• Sustainability
  The KC region is headquarters to the top two Global Power Sector Design Firms – Burns & McDonnell and Black & Veatch – and both are doing their part to move  sustainability forward.
  
  In the past decade, Burns & McDonnell has designed more than 500 wind and solar projects producing 90,000+ MW of renewable energy. Just this year, Burns & McDonnell also announced a strategic alliance with Bladt Industries A/S with the purpose of building offshore wind projects in the U.S.
  
  Black & Veatch, recently unveiled seven new sustainability commitments to the KC region. Including: reducing its own carbon footprint to net zero carbon emission by 2025 and will no longer participate in new design and construction of coal-based power projects.