New Virtual Power Purchase Agreement to Cover 100% of Henkel’s U.S. Electricity Demand
The long-term commitment contributes to increasing the share of renewable energy in the grid and supports Henkel in reaching its climate protection targets.
Henkel recently announced that it has signed a large-scale virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) relating to a new wind farm in Bee County, Texas. The agreed capacity equals 100% of the electricity demand of Henkel’s operations in the U.S., which comprise more than 30 production sites across the country. The long-term commitment contributes to increasing the share of renewable energy in the grid and supports Henkel in reaching its climate protection targets, which were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative earlier this year.
In order to reach its goal to source 100% renewable electricity for its production sites by 2030, Henkel reports that it follows a combination of on-site production of green energy, direct purchase, and virtual coverage. This involves, for example, entering into long-term VPPAs that feed power from specific renewable energy plants into the supply grid in an amount that is equal to the amount consumed. Thus, Henkel contributes to creating additional renewable energy generation capacity by way of its green power purchase.
“At Henkel, we want to make a positive contribution to climate protection and further accelerate our efforts,” said Sylvie Nicol, member of the Henkel management board responsible for human resources and sustainability. “Based on our strong achievements, we have reaffirmed our commitment to become climate-positive by 2040. The power purchase agreement demonstrates how we can drive tangible progress towards achieving our ambitious targets.”
“We are proud of having entered into a large-scale VPPA in the US market, which marks a true milestone and significantly strengthens Henkel's contribution to climate protection,” said Marco Swoboda, chief financial officer. “Thanks to the excellent collaboration of our Purchasing and Finance teams we demonstrated our ability of taking innovative approaches to sourcing sustainable energy. For us, this is both an achievement and a motivation to evaluate further potential of such concepts as contribution to our sustainability agenda.”
Henkel’s VPPA in the U.S. is connected to a new wind power project that is being developed by energy provider Ørsted. “In addition to generating clean energy, the wind farm will provide a significant source of new revenue for the local government, schools, and landowners,” said Philip Moore, senior vice president at Ørsted.
With an overall production of around 600,000 MWh per year, the wind farm is scheduled to be connected to the grid in early 2022. Henkel’s agreement comprises half of the wind farm’s electricity capacity at fixed terms over a period of more than 10 years.
For more information, visit www.henkel.com/sustainability.
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