innogy has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with West Fraser Timber Co. LTD (West Fraser) for the supply of green power from innogy's Canadian Vauxhall solar plant (27 MWp). The agreement will cover an essential part of the electricity that West Fraser, a leading North American diversified wood production company, needs to hedge its on-peak sawmill load in Alberta and to meet its environmental targets.
The long-term contract will run for ten years, starting in May 2020. innogy's solar farm will supply an annual production of more than 45,000 MWh of carbon-free energy and environmental attributes to West Fraser.
Katja Wünschel, Senior Vice President Renewables Operations Onshore & Solar at innogy SE, says: "We aim to continue to expand renewables worldwide, by working on PPA-based projects and partnerships such as this one with West Fraser. The PPA enables us to operate our Vauxhall solar farm without any provincial subsidies. It shows that climate protection is possible under current market conditions."
"This deal is exemplary for the modern, competitive renewable energy world. Besides the fact that we can run our solar farm on a merchant basis, it allows West Fraser to run their production in a climate-friendly manner by significantly cutting carbon emissions," adds Keith Moseley, Commercial Director at innogy SE.
"West Fraser has a track record of investing in innovations focused on sustainable energy systems and developing renewable energy sources. Today 75% of our energy is renewable, and that will grow further as a result of this solar power partnership," says Keith Carter, Vice President Pulp and Energy Operations at West Fraser. "We're pleased to partner with innogy on this project, and to secure competitively-priced renewable energy to sustainably supply our Alberta sawmills."
The large-scale Vauxhall photovoltaic plant (Prairie Sunlight III) located in Southern Alberta, near to the town of Vauxhall, is currently in the commissioning phase. Also, innogy is close to completing construction of a second solar farm nearby in Hull (Prairie Sunlight II, 30 MW), which will commence commercial operations in Q2 2020. After full commissioning, the two photovoltaic plants will produce enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of about 12,500 Canadian homes. innogy's subsidiary BELECTRIC is responsible for the entire construction, and it will also take on operation and maintenance of the solar farm as a service provider.
Legal disclaimer
This document contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the current views, expectations, assumptions, and information of management, and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements shall not be construed as a promise for the materialization of future results and developments and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those described in such statements. It is due to, among other things, changes in the general economic and competitive environment; risks associated with capital markets, currency exchange rate fluctuations; changes in international and national laws and regulations, in particular concerning tax laws and regulations affecting the Company; and other factors. Neither the Company nor any of its affiliates assume any obligations to update any forward-looking statements.
innogy Renewables
We plan, build and operate plants to generate power and extract energy from renewable sources. We have an extensive portfolio composed of onshore and offshore wind, hydro, solar and biomass plants. innogy is one of the major operators of offshore and onshore wind energy in Europe. In addition to wind power, we also want to grow utility-scale solar power plants. Today, Europe is the market we are still the most active in with assets in our home market, Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Italy. Besides Europe, we are also active in Australia, Canada, and the United States of America. We aim to continue to expand renewables worldwide, both on our own and working with partners. We believe that working together in this way is the key to making the energy transition a success.
Further information on innogy's PPA solutions can be found here: www.innogy.com/ppa
Note: The solar business is part of innogy's Renewables business unit, which E.ON and RWE have agreed to transfer to RWE in 2020.
West Fraser
West Fraser is a diversified wood products company producing lumber, LVL, MDF, plywood, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, other residuals and energy with facilities in western Canada and the southern United States.
Further information about West Fraser can be found here: www.westfraser.com
Please direct inquiries to
innogy SE
Sarah Knauber
Press Spokeswoman
T +49 201 12 14861
M +49 162 2544489
sarah.knauber@innogy.com
West Fraser
Tara Knight
Communications Manager
T +1 (604)-895-2773
M +1 (604)-283-1813
tara.knight@westfraser.com
