Retail divisions of Schwarz Group contract RWE to supply green energy from offshore wind farm
Lidl and Kaufland are making progress toward achieving their climate targets by signing a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with RWE Supply & Trading for roughly 250 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year starting in 2028. The PPA has been signed for a duration of ten years. The power will come from the “Kaskasi” offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, which officially commenced operations at the end of March. As such, the retail divisions of Schwarz Group are the first corporate customers to conclude a PPA for green energy from the “Kaskasi” wind farm.
“The partnership with RWE Supply & Trading represents an innovative component of our energy strategy. Such PPAs encourage the provision of additional green energy capacities, thus underscoring how serious we are about our commitment to the environment. With their climate targets, the companies of Schwarz Group are contributing to the Paris Agreement and helping to limit global warming to 1.5 °C,” explains Jörg Siegel, Executive Vice President of Schwarz Beschaffung.
“We are happy to be supporting Lidl and Kaufland with their ambitious climate targets,” emphasizes Hendrik Niebaum, Head of Commodity Solutions at RWE Supply & Trading. “Our partnership with the companies of Schwarz Group demonstrates how our energy solutions can help protect the environment in all sectors of the economy.”
Ambitious climate commitment
Purchasing green energy is just one of the measures employed by the companies of Schwarz Group in their joint climate strategy, which will help cut CO2 emissions by up to 55 percent by 2030. As part of this climate strategy, the companies of Schwarz Group have set ambitious goals in line with the methods defined by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), backing them up with specific measures to reduce, avoid, and offset Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in their operations and in the supply chain. These measures include building environmentally friendly and energy-efficient stores, administration buildings, and logistics centers, actively contributing to mobility concepts, and creating an climate-friendly product range. In order to avoid CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, the companies of Schwarz Group have been procuring 100 percent* of their electricity, as well as other energy, from renewable sources since the 2022 fiscal year. The ten-year contract with RWE serves as yet another source of supply for green energy.
High-yield wind farm
RWE’s “Kaskasi” wind farm is located around 35 kilometers off the shore of the German island of Helgoland and contains a total of 38 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 342 megawatts. It is part of the “Helgoland Cluster” together with the Amrumbank West and Nordsee Ost wind farms. Since the end of 2022, all of these units have been feeding green energy into the grid; after passing the required tests, the farm has now commenced operations. The wind energy generated by “Kaskasi” can supply 400,000 households with green energy each year. Three turbines in the wind farm boast the first rotor blades in the world that can be recycled at the end of their service life. Thanks to a new type of resin with a special chemical structure, the materials used in the rotors can now be separated from each other.
* Excluding any purchase agreements that the companies of Schwarz Group cannot influence, such as those for individual leased properties with a binding electricity procurement clause. For further information, visit.
