Statkraft, the Norwegian state-owned energy company, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Umicore, a Belgian materials technology company. In order to power Umicore’s facility in Kokkola, Finland, the PPA will assure an annual supply of 60 GWh of clean energy from 2024 to 2033. The clean energy will be supplied from the Nuolivaara wind farm in northern Finland and will be accredited with assurances of origin.
The 96.9 MW onshore wind plant, which has 17 wind turbines, is scheduled to be operational in 2023. The Kokkola manufacturing facility of Umicore produces precursor cathode active materials and refines cobalt for use in electric vehicle rechargeable batteries. Umicore has established a goal to attain net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 as part of its “Let’s Go for Zero” environmental, social, and governance strategy. The company’s initial objective is to reduce its emissions from their 2019 baseline by 20 per cent by 2025.
In May 2022, Statkraft announced the completion of its first large-scale solar power project in India. The 76 MW Nellai solar project in Ettanakulam, Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district, is now live. The Nellai Solar Park is a 55 MW (AC) and 76 MW (DC) project constructed on approximately 200 acres of land in Ettanakulam village, Manur Taluk, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, India.
REGlobal’s Views: There has been a global surge in industrial procurement of renewable power as energy-intensive industries make efforts to decarbonise their energy mix by switching to renewables. Further, in many countries, renewable power has become cheaper when compared to conventional power, and thus, opting for renewables reduces the power bills of these industries.
