Swedish utility Vattenfall announced Friday a long-term power purchase agreement with global healthcare company Novo Nordisk and bio innovator Novozymes, both based in Denmark.
"Novo Nordisk and Novozymes will source their power consumption from Vattenfall and its offshore wind farm Kriegers Flak, which is being developed in the Baltic Sea," a press release read.
The deal will enter into force on Jan. 1, 2020, and cover approximately a fifth of the power produced at the farm, which will upon completion be Denmark’s largest wind farm with a production capacity of just over 600 megawatts, according to the statement.
Kriegers Flak is scheduled to be in full operation by the end of 2021. Between then and 2021, the power will be sourced from other Vattenfall wind farms in Denmark, it said.
Branislav Slavic, vice president of Business Sales Nordic at Vattenfall, noted an increasing demand from businesses to buy 100 percent renewable energy.
"This agreement is a result of that, and we are looking forward to cooperating with Novo Nordisk and Novozymes," he said.
According to Dorethe Nielsen, head of corporate environmental strategy at Novo Nordisk, an important element in the cooperation with Vattenfall is the ability to supply renewable energy for its international production sites.
"The agreement with Vattenfall moves Novo Nordisk one step closer to reaching our ambition: That all Novo Nordisk production facilities worldwide will run on renewable power by 2020. With the Vattenfall agreement, all of Novo Nordisk European production will run on renewable power," she said.
Lene Aabo, vice president for sourcing and facility management at Novozymes, sees the new agreement as a way to support sustainability in the whole value chain, from production to products.
"Novozymes' products help tackle the world’s major problems, such as climate change. This makes it only natural to take responsibility for our own impact on the environment. This new agreement gives us a stable supply of renewable power at competitive terms. In this way, it supports an efficient production in Denmark with good jobs," she said.
According to the statement, the power from the farm will have Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which provides full transparency of the environmental performance and enables comparison between products from a life-cycle perspective.
Novo Nordisk and Novozymes are independent companies and part of the Novo family, with the Novo Nordisk Foundation as a major shareholder through its holding company Novo Holdings A/S.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr