Danone Group and Iberdrola sign partnership to build solar plant

Whether in the beverage industry, like Ambev brewery, or in the technological area, such as Siemens, companies are continually investing in renewables. Now it’s the turn of the French food group Danone to further expand its sustainable horizons.

The company has signed a PPA (power purchase agreement) with Iberdrola, which will drive the construction of a 590 MW photovoltaic plant in Europe. This initiative will ensure that 100% of the renewable electricity already used in its facilities and factories will come from this solar project, which was named after Francisco Pizarro.

The agreement will ensure the long-term supply of green electricity to all Danone plants and sources in Spain, located in Asturias, Barcelona, ​​Girona, Guadalajara, Granada, Madrid and Valencia, as well as to its logistics centers and offices. The partnership establishes that Iberdrola, starting in April 2022, will supply clean energy to Danone’s 29 supply points in Spain for 10 years. The volume supplied will reach 73 GWh/year.

According to the companies, the plant, which is scheduled to start operating in 2022, will prevent the annual emission of more than 245 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the construction of this project is expected to create approximately 1,2 jobs. In total, €300 million (almost R$2 billion) were invested.

“PPAs open up many opportunities for the development of renewable projects that are transforming Spain’s energy present and future and contributing to economic recovery,” explained Ángeles Santamaría, CEO of Iberdrola Spain.

“Long-term energy purchase and sale contracts provide stability to investments and have become an excellent tool for managing the electricity supply of large consumers, committed to clean and sustainable consumption. These agreements demonstrate the competitiveness of renewable energies and their ability to provide energy at affordable and stable prices”, he added.

For Paolo Tafuri, general director of Danone Iberia, the health of people and the planet are closely related and this is reflected in his vision of a more sustainable world. “We want to move towards a new way of doing business that considers not only the results account, but also the economic and social impact of our activity”, he highlighted

“This initiative will help us make our ambitious environmental commitments a reality, goals that are part of our global strategy and that affect our entire value chain”, he concluded.