Heineken to switch to 100% renewable electricity in Spain

Heineken's Spanish arm has signed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that will see it switch to 100% renewable electricity from solar later this year.


Heineken to switch to 100% renewable electricity in Spain

The solar plant which will supply Heineken Spain will be co-located with Iberdrola’s El Andevalo wind farm (pictured)

Provided by energy giant Iberdrola, the PPA will see Heineken Spain source 100% of the electricity consumed by its operations from a new solar plant in Andevalo, which will come online later this year. The 150-hectare solar plant is co-located with Iberdrola’s El Andevalo wind farm and will have an installed capacity of 50MW once completed, generating 82 GWh of electricity annually.

Heineken Spain says it will be able to switch to 100% renewable electricity across all breweries and offices in October as a result of the Iberdrola deal. It estimates that the switch will reduce its annual Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (power-related)  by 100,000 tonnes of CO2.

Heineken Spain’s managing director Guillaume Duverdier said the deal forms an important step towards the brewer’s aim of delivering carbon-neutral operations by 2023.

“This initiative reaffirms Heineken Spain’s commitment to sustainability, as well as our industry leadership position in the drive to towards renewable energy usage in Spain,” he said. “After covering all our breweries’ electrical requirements, we will be replacing our existing gas boilers with ones that use biomass in order to be able to brew beer using only renewable energy by 2023.”

On a global scale, Heineken is aiming to source at least 70% of its electricity and heat from renewable sources by 2030.

To date, Heineken has backed 29 renewable energy projects globally. Notable projects include onsite solar arrays in North Yorkshire, UK, and Kudena, Nigeria; four external PPAs across Mexico and a string of technologies used to make breweries in Göss and Schladming, Austria, carbon-neutral.

Heineken’s move comes shortly after rival AB InBev signed a 10-year agreement with global energy giant BayWa r.e to purchase 100% renewable electricity to power its Western European breweries.

The future is bright…

In related news, Iberdrola has also singed a multi-year solar PPA with telecommunications giant Orange this month.

Under the deal, Orange in Spain will receive 200GWh of power annually from a new 328MW solar farm that is currently being built in Extremadura. The facility is expected to be completed in the latter half of 2020.

Orange in Spain has said the deal will cover the majority of the total energy consumption of its 9,000 operated buildings, which include offices and stores. The firm has not given an exact percentage but claims the deal will reduce its annual carbon emissions by more than 110,000 tonnes.

“This agreement with Iberdrola is in line with our commitment to caring for the planet and for sustainability, set out in the Orange Group’s strategic plan, Engage 2025, of which Spain, as its second-largest market, is a fundamental part,” Orange’s chief executive Laurent Paillassot said.

“In addition, it reinforces our strategy as a group to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, while also contributing to increasing the renewable energy capacity in Spain.”


Available to watch on-demand: Free Corporate Power Purchase Agreements online masterclass

As businesses seek to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels by powering operations, systems and facilities with renewable energy, corporate PPAs are becoming an increasingly popular tool.

But what are corporate PPAs in the context of renewable energy? Which organisations are most suited to adopting CPPAs, and what are the business benefits of doing so?

To find out, edie recently ran a 45-minute masterclass webinar in association with Ørsted. This session is available to watch on-demand here.


Sarah George

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