SPAIN – Heineken Spain has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with energy supplier, Iberdrola, to supply all its four Spain breweries and offices with 100% renewable electricity.
The agreement by the two companies involves the construction of a new solar photovoltaic plant in Andévalo, southern Spain, which will be dedicated specifically for Heineken use.
The new plant will have a surface area of 150 hectares and an installed capacity of 50MW and will generate 82 GWh per year.
The solar plant will be built inside the biggest in-land wind farm in continental Europe, El Andévalo (292 MW), developed and managed by Iberdrola since 2010.
The solar plant is expected to be fully operational by 2020. Heineken said that the plant will guarantee the supply of green electricity to all four Spain breweries as well as its offices – equivalent of over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
In addition to its environmental impact, the new solar installation will create an estimated 200 additional jobs in the local community.
Guillaume Duverdier, Managing Director, Heineken Spain, said that the deal is a major milestone in the company’s ambition to operate 100% carbon neutral by 2023.
“Thanks to the Andévalo plant, all our drinks will be brewed using electricity created directly from the sun,” Duverdier said.
“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.
“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.”
The new initiative in Spain forms part of Heineken International’s global sustainability strategy – “Brewing a Better World”.
As part of this strategy, the company launched the ‘Drop the C’ carbon reduction program, aiming to grow its share of renewable thermal energy and electricity in production globally to at least 70% by 2030.
The Dutch brewer says that it wants to drive a real change towards renewable energy across all regions where it operates.
The company is currently undertaking 29 renewable energy projects around the world, focusing on harnessing the power of wind and solar energy, biomass or biogas.
Heineken already operates several carbon neutral breweries across the world including in Göss and Schladming in Austria, Sampang Agung in Indonesia, Kudenda in Nigeria, and multiple breweries and shops in Mexico.
