Kellogg signs renewable wind energy agreement with Enel Green Power

The electricity the company will use from the wind farm is the equivalent power to 43,000 homes per year.

Kellogg Company has announced that as a result of a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for renewable wind energy, it will achieve more than 50 percent renewable electricity for its global manufacturing by the close of next year.

The long-term VPPA was signed for providing power to the company’s North American facilities.

The VPPA was signed with Enel Green Power, which will provide approximately 360 gigawatt-hours of renewable wind energy per year. That represents about half of the volume of electricity Kellogg’s North American manufacturing facilities require.

According to Enel Group subsidiary, Enel X, a VPPA occurs when a company developing a renewable energy project enters into an agreement with a third party to obtain financing. The agreement states that the power will be sold to the grid upon the project’s completion. That said, through the equivalent electricity resulting from the VPPA, the company providing the funds can claim credit for supplying the grid with renewable electricity without having to place the generation facility on-site. It also does not have to directly source that renewable source of electricity.

The renewable wind energy VPPA is a component of Kellogg’s pursuit of its Better Days targets.

The global Better Days commitments involve reducing scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 65 percent, and to achieve 100 percent renewable power by 2050. The company measures its greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with the GHG Protocol.

“Kellogg has been working to reduce its carbon footprint across our value chain for more than a decade,” said Kellogg Company chief sustainability officer, Amy Senter. “Our latest VPPA further demonstrates to investors, stakeholders and our consumers that we are taking action to address climate change.”

Enel has already started construction of the renewable wind energy farm in north central Texas called Azure Sky. This is the company’s first wind and storage project. It combines a 350-megawatt facility with approximately 120 megawatts of battery storage. This makes it one of the largest battery storage facilities in the world. It is slated to begin operations in 2022.