British Co-op Group Buys Offshore Wind Power from RWE

RWE has entered into a seven-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the British Co-op Group, one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives and the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, for electricity produced by the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm.

Under the PPA, RWE will supply Co-op with a total volume of 33 GWh of clean electricity annually, sufficient to power the equivalent of around 140 Co-op food stores per year. This electricity will be used to help power Co-op’s food stores, distribution centres, and funeralcare homes across the UK.

The agreement with RWE aligns with the British co-operative’s commitment to achieve net-zero across its operations by 2035 and its entire business by 2040. According to information released by Co-op, in March 2024, the group became one of the first UK convenience retailers to have its net-zero targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

In its updated Climate Action Plan, Co-op further committed to sourcing renewable energy through corporate PPAs and investing in suppliers to help them cut emissions.

“For the sake of people and planet, it’s vital that collectively we tackle the climate crisis. The energy transition is central to energy security and therefore national security too. That’s why we believe that every business should be playing its part to help green the grid, be that by reducing their energy demand or indeed by ensuring that renewable electricity generation forms an integral part of their energy procurement decisions”, said Heather Thomas, Group Property & Sustainability Director at Co-op.

Gwynt y Môr is a 576 MW offshore wind farm located in the Irish Sea off the coast of North Wales, 13 kilometres from the nearest point to shore. The wind farm, which was inaugurated in 2015, comprises 160 Siemens Gamesa 3.6 MW wind turbines.

The offshore wind farm is owned by a consortium of RWE, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Macquarie GIG. GYM OFTO owns the transmission assets that connect Gwynt y Môr to the National Grid.

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