AkzoNobel receives first power from new Dutch wind farm; joins partnership to explore green hydrogen in Sweden

AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, DSM, Google and Philips have started receiving power from the Bouwdokken wind farm in the Netherlands.

All four companies use a substantial amount of power in the Netherlands, and by working together they are making a significant contribution to delivering on the Netherlands’ renewable energy target of 14% by 2020.

In October 2016 and January 2017, the companies signed two long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) that enabled construction of two Dutch wind farm projects – Krammer and Bouwdokken. These wind farms, both of which are located in the southwest of the Netherlands, have a total capacity of over 140 MW, enough to power approximately 140,000 households.

It is the first time that a group of multinationals in the Netherlands have teamed up to negotiate long-term PPAs directly with project developers, bypassing the involvement of an energy utility company. The Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Business Renewables Center, a leading independent authority on sustainability, says the consortium is among the earliest examples of aggregated corporate demand successfully participating in clean energy markets worldwide.

“This marks the next big step towards a new way of supplying energy for Dutch industry,” said Marcel Galjee, Energy Director at AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, on behalf of the consortium. “We brought together a group of companies that is united in its sustainability leadership. We believe it is of utmost importance to join forces and come up with innovative partnerships to achieve the sustainability goals of our companies as well as those set out in the Paris climate agreement.”

Harry Coorens, VP Procurement Sustainability at Royal DSM added: “The collaboration and progress as shown in this initiative is well recognized outside the Netherlands. I receive questions from all over the world to explain this success story. It is a prime example to show an industry drive and collaboration that supports a mutual goal; creating a cleaner environment for people today and generations to come. Looking back historically, it’s interesting to note that this project was developed near the Delta Works, another visionary feat that is highly regarded outside the Netherlands.”

Marc Oman, EU Energy Lead of Google Global Infrastructure said: “In 2017, Google purchased enough renewable energy to match 100% of our consumption for global operations. Success with this consortium plays a meaningful part in our global clean energy plans, and as a company we are continuing to push innovation for corporate renewable energy procurement.”

Simon Braaksma, Senior Director of Group Sustainability at Philips said: “As a purpose-driven health technology company, a healthy planet is central to our mission, and we are making good progress to decouple economic growth from our environmental impact. All our operations in the United States are already powered by wind energy, and through this unique consortium, also our operations in the Netherlands will soon be completely powered by green electricity.”

All four companies are also members of the RE100, a collaborative global initiative uniting more than 100 businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity, working to massively increase demand for – and delivery of – renewable energy.

AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, which already sources some 45% of its energy from renewable sources, will use the green energy chiefly to produce chlorine, caustic soda and ‘green’ hydrogen at its site in Rotterdam, all essential raw materials in the chemical industry.

DSM uses the renewable energy as an addition to its commitment to purchase electricity from renewable sources to manufacture products in health, nutrition and materials and create solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance.

Google will supply its datacenter in the Netherlands with energy from the grid on which the wind farms are producing electricity.

When both Dutch windfarms are fully operational, 100% of Philips’ activities in the Netherlands will be powered by Dutch wind energy, an important milestone in the company’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2020.

The Bouwdokken wind farm is owned and constructed by E-Connection on the NeeltjeJans artificial island, which is part of the so-called Delta Works – a series of construction projects that protect the southwest of the Netherlands from the sea. Wind Cooperation Zeeuwind is a 25% shareholder of the wind farm,  which consists of 7 turbines of 4.2 megawatt each.

Meanwhile, in other news, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals is partnering with three groups in Sweden to explore the opportunities for producing green hydrogen and ‘electrofuels’ using renewable electricity. The partners are RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), forestry group Södra and packaging materials company BillerudKorsnäs.

Converting excess renewable electricity into green hydrogen or electrofuels (synthetic fuels based on electricity, water and CO2) offers the potential to balance the fluctuations in supply and demand of electricity from renewable sources including wind and solar power. AkzoNobel is a major user of electricity in Sweden, and will contribute its expertise in electrochemistry to the partnership.

“Sweden aims to have a 100% renewable electricity production in 2040, mainly to be achieved by expanding solar and wind-generated power production. More wind and solar energy brings a growing societal and industrial need to manage fluctations in electricity supply and demand. At the same time the large-scale availability of cost-competitive renewable power opens opportunities,” says Anna-Karin Jannasch, Focus area manager Industrial Transformation at RISE.

“The interest in hydrogen for energy purposes as well as its application in the process industry has grown in the last few years. As a state owned research institute RISE aims to ensure the international competitiveness of Sweden’s business community while contributing to a sustainable society, and this project is a good example of how we work as an innovation partner to industry.”

Emma Ringström, Sustainability Manager Pulp and Performance Chemicals at AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, adds: “Renewable energy and biobased and recycled raw materials allows us to further reduce our environmental footprint and to meet customer needs for more sustainable products. But to really drive change in the industry and society it is key to collaborate with like-minded business in and outside the value chain.”

The electrofuels concept is based on the process of electrolysis of water, which produces hydrogen and oxygen. This can be further combined with CO2 to produce for example methanol, which is a key feedstock for the manufacturing of chemicals and can also be further processed into synthetic fuels. In this way, the process serves as a carbon ‘sink’ by effectively recycling CO2 emissions.

Earlier this year AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals and Dutch gas network operator Gasunie joined forces to investigate the possible large scale conversion of sustainable electricity into green hydrogen via the electrolysis of water. Building on the company’s expertise in electrolysis and handling of hydrogen, the partners plan to use a 20 megawatt water electrolysis unit, the largest in Europe, targeting a production capacity of 3,000 tons of green hydrogen a year – enough to fuel 300 hydrogen buses.

(EOG)


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