US – American multinational food manufacturing company Kellogg is doubling down on its efforts to achieve 100% transition to clean energy sources.
The company recently signed a long-term wind energy virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Enel Green Power in North America .
Under the agreement, Kellogg will buy a portion of electricity delivered into the grid from Enel’s Azure Sky wind project in Texas.
The 100mW VPPA will result in approximately 360 gigawatt hours of wind electricity annually, an amount which is equal to 50% of the volume of electricity used in its manufacturing facilities across North America.
Enel has already started the construction of Azure Sky in north central Texas, which combines a 350mW wind facility and approximately 120mW of battery storage.
The Azure Sky wind farm will add clean energy resources to the community’s local grid and is expected to be operational in 2022.
Kellogg says the deal with Enel will help it reach 50% of its global Better Days goal of reducing its Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 65%.
It is also a major step towards the company’s goal of sourcing 100% of its power from renewable sources by 2050.
The company’s portion of renewable energy generated by the wind farm is said to be equivalent to the amount of electricity it takes to power more than 43,000 homes each year.
Adoption of clean energy will also help Kellogg avoid 250,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions on an annual basis.
“Kellogg has been working to reduce its carbon footprint across our value chain for more than a decade.
Our latest VPPA further demonstrates to investors, stakeholders and our consumers that we are taking action to address climate change,” said Amy Senter, chief sustainability officer, Kellogg Company.
The announcement builds on renewable energy projects that Kellogg currently has in place around the world.
For example, both its Western Europe and Australia operations have achieved 100% renewable electricity.
Meanwhile, in North America, Kellogg has purchased Renewable Energy Certifications (RECs) for multiple facilities and offices in several states.
The announcement by Kellogg follows a similar announcement by Cargill which stated that four of its Thailand had been fitted with solar power with capacity to generate over 3,000 MWh of clean electricity in a year.
Cargill said this was equivalent to reducing 1,750 tonnes of CO2 annually.
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