Global pharmaceutical company Lundbeck has entered a 7-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Better Energy to ensure 100 percent renewable electricity consumption. As a result of the agreement, Better Energy will build a new solar park and bring more new renewable electricity into the Danish grid.
When the lights are turned on at Lundbeck next year, their electricity consumption will be matched by an equal amount of solar power. The electricity will be generated at a solar park which is built and financed through the PPA that runs for seven years. Lundbeck has prioritised that new PPAs should have a direct effect on the construction of new renewable capacity in Denmark.
“Sustainable businesses can make a world of difference by ensuring that their electricity consumption is matched by additional new renewable capacity. This is exactly what Lundbeck does with this agreement,” explains Rasmus Lildholdt Kjær, CEO of Better Energy.
According to the Danish Energy Agency, Danish electricity consumption is expected to almost double during this decade. The construction of new subsidy-free solar parks helps ensure that a larger part of this electricity consumption is supplied by green electricity production.
“Since 2006, we have reduced our carbon emissions by more than 70 percent, and this new solar park is the next step towards our ambition of reaching carbon neutrality. We are very pleased to be a part of adding new green energy to the grid and look forward to seeing the solar park,” says Lundbeck’s Senior Director for Compliance and Sustainability Uffe Kåre Rasmussen.
The solar park will be built in Guldborgsund Municipality in Denmark and is expected to be connected to the electricity grid within the next twelve months. The agreement is a hedge against rising electricity costs as it entails a low fixed cost of electricity for the next seven years. Danish solar power is now more cost-effective than fossil energy.
“After having received decades of support through subsidies, renewable energy is now able to stand alone – and it is now cheaper than fossil fuels. Entering a green PPA that ensures additionality no longer requires paying a premium on your electricity bill. On the contrary. It is now simply a question of ensuring predictability, which enables us to build new solar parks,” says Rasmus Lildholdt Kjær, CEO of Better Energy.
The new solar park will have a capacity of 34 MW and is expected to generate the equivalent of the average annual electricity consumption of 21,250 Danes.
