RWE Supply & Trading and Ineos have entered into a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under the terms of the ten-year agreement set to begin in 2021, Ineos will purchase 198 gigawatthours of green electricity per year from RWE, which will be generated by the Northwester 2 wind farm in the Belgian North Sea. The wind farm is located off the coast of Zeebrugge and is operated by the Belgian company Parkwind. The PPA represents around 25% of the electricity generated by Northwester 2. Thanks to the PPA, Ineos will reduce its carbon footprint in Belgium by 745,000 tonnes of CO2 during the term of the agreement.
Ineos is one of a series of key accounts that RWE provides with green electricity on the basis of PPAs. Deutsche Bahn, for example, purchases electricity generated from hydropower and offshore wind power and Bosch recently concluded a purchase agreement for solar power with RWE Supply & Trading.
"We are excited that we are able to support Ineos in further reducing its greenhouse gas emissions”, says Andree Stracke, CCO at RWE Supply & Trading. "With our global portfolio, we are among the largest producers of power from renewables. We provide tailor-made solutions to industrial customers and municipal utilities and help them to reach their climate protection targets."
David Thompson, CEO of Ineos Trading, is delighted: "This agreement with RWE is another important step as we further reduce our carbon emissions from our energy consumption in Belgium. Combined with our earlier agreement in September, the deals reduce our carbon footprint by nearly 2 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide. We will continue to look at the options for further expanding the use of renewable energy, as agreements such as this support our roadmap towards a reduction in carbon based energy across our sites."
The Northwester 2 offshore wind farm supplies the Belgian grid with green electricity from 23 turbines, each with a capacity of up to 9.5 megawatt (MW). The wind farm’s total power generation has been marketed by RWE Supply & Trading since the spring of 2020. It is the seventh wind farm in the Belgian North Sea and has a total installed capacity of 219 MW.