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Renewables

Chemical companies make big renewable power purchases

Firms hope the agreements will advance their sustainability goals

by Alexander H. Tullo
August 17, 2022 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 100, Issue 29

 

An aerial Buckeye Partner's solar project in North Texas
Credit: LyondellBasell
Buckeye Partner's solar project in North Texas.

A number of chemical companies have made deals to purchase renewable electricity to help them reach their carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets.

Australian explosives and mining chemicals maker Orica has signed an agreement with solar energy developer Lightsource bp to purchase electricity from a solar farm near Dubbo, New South Wales. This solar farm will supply about 50% of the power Orica uses in Australia. Orica aims to source all of its power from renewable electricity by 2040, with an intermediate goal of 60% by 2030. The new agreement will bring it to 30%.

BASF has signed electricity purchase agreements with the firms Dawn Solar and EDF Energy for a total of 250 MW of renewable electricity. The agreements amount to 660,000 MWh of electricity supply per year distributed across 20 BASF sites in the US. With these contracts, more than 25% of BASF’s power in North America, will come from renewable electricity.

LyondellBasell has inked an agreement with Buckeye Partners for 165 MW of electricity from solar farms under construction in North Texas. This adds to similar agreements it signed with Buckeye and with Engie North America earlier this year. The purchases will total 400,000 MWh of annual supply to LyondellBasell facilities.

And finally, the European specialty chemical maker DSM is upping its renewable purchase targets to 100% by 2030. In 2019, it set a goal of securing 75% of its electricity supply from renewable sources. The company says it exceeded that mark in June of this year, eight years ahead of schedule.

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