(www.cnbc.com)
Nestlé’s UK and Ireland operations are set to be powered by a new wind farm in Scotland. A deal between the food company and Community Windpower will result in the opening of a new nine-turbine wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway.
The wind farm will produce around 125 gigawatt hours of power per year – enough to supply 30,000 homes – that Nestle will purchase. Nestlé said it will open in the first half of 2017,
“We announced back in April that all of our grid-supplied electricity is coming from renewable sources but today’s announcement takes things a huge step further,” Fiona Kendrick, chairman and CEO of Nestlé UK & Ireland, said in a statement.
“This is a newly commissioned wind farm, generating new energy, creating capacity that didn’t previously exist and capable of providing half of our electricity needs,” Kendrick added. “It’s a proud moment for us and means we have reached another key milestone in our efforts to become a sustainable business.”
Nestlé’s announcement follows hot on the heels of global food manufacturing firm Mars stating in May that its U.K. operations would be completely powered by renewable electricity.
Rod Wood, managing director of Community Windpower, said that 50 percent of Nestlé’s energy requirements would be met by its Sanquhar wind farm project.
“It’s great to see a company like Nestlé supporting the construction of new wind farms to help power the manufacture of its products,” WWF Scotland’s director Lang Banks said in a statement.
“The next step on their 100% renewable journey should be to find ways to harness clean energy at their own manufacturing facilities and on their own buildings,” Banks added.
“With its huge renewable energy resources, Scotland is an ideal location to source the power needed to create products more sustainably,” Banks added.
Scotland is fast becoming a major player in wind energy, and is home to around one-quarter of Europe’s offshore wind resources.
The Scottish government says onshore wind power is now the most common form of renewable energy in the country.