Amsterdam, the
Netherlands – AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, DSM, Google and
Philips have started receiving power from the Bouwdokken wind farm in
the Netherlands – a milestone achievement resulting from a unique
green energy purchasing consortium they jointly established. All four
companies consume a substantial amount of power in the Netherlands,
and by working together they are making a significant contribution to
delivering on the Netherlands’ renewable energy target of 14% by
2020.
In October 2016 and
January 2017, the companies signed two long-term power purchase
agreements (PPAs) that enabled construction of two Dutch wind farm
projects – Krammer and Bouwdokken. These wind farms, both of which
are located in the southwest of the Netherlands, have a total
capacity of over 140 MW, enough to power approximately 140,000
households.
It is the first time that
a group of multinationals in the Netherlands have teamed up to
negotiate long-term PPAs directly with project developers, bypassing
the involvement of an energy utility company. The Rocky Mountain
Institute’s (RMI) Business Renewables Center, a leading independent
authority on sustainability, says the consortium is among the
earliest examples of aggregated corporate demand successfully
participating in clean energy markets worldwide.
“This marks the next
big step towards a new way of supplying energy for Dutch industry,”
said Marcel Galjee, Energy Director at AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals,
on behalf of the consortium. “We brought together a group of
companies that is united in its sustainability leadership. We believe
it is of utmost importance to join forces and come up with innovative
partnerships to achieve the sustainability goals of our companies as
well as those set out in the Paris climate agreement.”
Harry Coorens, VP
Procurement Sustainability at Royal DSM added: “The collaboration
and progress as shown in this initiative is well recognized outside
the Netherlands. I receive questions from all over the world to
explain this success story. It is a prime example to show an industry
drive and collaboration that supports a mutual goal; creating a
cleaner environment for people today and generations to come. Looking
back historically, it’s interesting to note that this project was
developed near the Delta Works, another visionary feat that is highly
regarded outside the Netherlands.”
Marc Oman, EU Energy
Lead, of Google Global Infrastructure said: "In 2017, Google
purchased enough renewable energy to match 100 percent of our
consumption for global operations. Success with this consortium plays
a meaningful part in our global clean energy plans, and as a company,
we are continuing to push innovation for corporate renewable energy
procurement.”
As a purpose-driven
health technology company, a healthy planet is central to our
mission, and we are making good progress to decouple economic growth
from our environmental impact. All our operations in the United
States are already powered by wind energy, and through this unique
consortium, also our operations in the Netherlands will soon be
completely powered by green electricity.
Simon Braaksma
Senior Director of Group
Sustainability at Philips
Simon Braaksma, Senior
Director of Group Sustainability at Philips said: “As a
purpose-driven health technology company, a healthy planet is central
to our mission, and we are making good progress to decouple economic
growth from our environmental impact. All our operations in the
United States are already powered by wind energy, and through this
unique consortium, also our operations in the Netherlands will soon
be completely powered by green electricity.”
All four companies are
also members of the RE100, a collaborative global initiative uniting
more than 100 businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity,
working to massively increase demand for - and delivery of -
renewable energy.
AkzoNobel Specialty
Chemicals, which already sources some 45% of its energy from
renewable sources, will use the green energy chiefly to produce
chlorine, caustic soda and ‘green’ hydrogen at its site in
Rotterdam, all essential raw materials in the chemical industry.
DSM uses the renewable
energy as an addition to its commitment to purchase electricity from
renewable sources to manufacture products in health, nutrition and
materials and create solutions that nourish, protect and improve
performance.
Google will supply its
datacenter in the Netherlands with energy from the grid on which the
wind farms are producing electricity.
When both Dutch windfarms
are fully operational, 100% of Philips’ activities in the
Netherlands will be powered by Dutch wind energy, an important
milestone in the company’s ambition to become carbon neutral by
2020.
The Bouwdokken wind farm
is owned and constructed by E-Connection on the Neeltje Jans
artificial island, which is part of the so-called Delta Works – a
series of construction projects that protect the southwest of the
Netherlands from the sea. Wind Cooperation Zeeuwind is a 25%
shareholder of the wind farm, which consists of 7 turbines of
4.2 megawatt each.
Source: PHILIPS
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