Agricultural and food producer Cargill is increasing its contracted renewable energy capacity by 42% after signing five new deals to bring online an additional 300MW of wind and solar capacity.
The five contracts will start in 2024.
The deals expand Cargill’s total offsite renewable energy portfolio to 716MW and will help Cargill achieve its goal to reduce absolute operational greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2025 against a 2017 baseline.
Globally, Cargill’s renewable energy portfolio includes 15 projects online across 12 countries.
This portfolio is primarily composed of wind and solar PPAs and virtual PPAs, or agreements to buy renewable electricity and associated renewable energy credits for a defined period.
“Cargill’s commitment to climate action spans our entire business and focuses on feeding a growing global population more sustainably,” said Christina Yagjian, Global Renewable Energy Leader at the company.
“Renewable energy projects are just one of several ways we are weaving sustainable practices into our supply chains and global operations.
“While Cargill’s greatest opportunity for emissions reductions lies within its global supply chains, reducing emissions from the company’s operations is a critical step in our efforts to decarbonise the food and agriculture industry and supports not only our climate goals, but also those of our customers.”
Earlier this year, through a Renewable Electricity Buyer Consortium, Cargill and Mars executed VPPAs with Ocean Breeze Energy, owner and operator of the Bard Offshore Wind Farm located off the coast of Germany.
In Italy, Cargill has a PPA with Galileo Green Energy for 55MW of capacity from a solar project located in the southern part of the country.
Cargill’s contract with Vattenfall for the supply of 78MW of the Windpark Hanze project in the Netherlands will come online this spring.
In the United States, Cargill and Blue Cloud Wind Energy, a subsidiary of TC Energy, executed a VPPA for a 130MW of offtake from a wind farm in Texas.
Sourcing renewables in the Southwest Power Pool supports emission reductions where many of Cargill’s US plants are located.
In Brazil, Cargill and Serena Energia entered into a self-production contract for generation from a wind farm in Bahia.
This contract is anticipated to supply 263,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity per year to Cargill processing and manufacturing facilities across the country.