As a part of its global commitment to procure 100% of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydropower, Nestlé has opened a new wind farm at Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
The farm has been developed in partnership with energy business Community Windpower. Rod Wood, managing director of Community Windpower said: “Nestlé are leading the way procuring a UK source of green energy directly from our latest Scottish wind farm. CWP’s long term partnership with Nestlé has delivered a substantial new investment in Scotland generating economic benefits, jobs and invaluable community contributions over the next 25 years.”
Combined, the nine turbines currently produce around 125GWh of power per annum, which Nestlé says is enough to supply half the annual electricity demands of all their UK and Ireland operations. Further to this, enough electricity to power 30,000 homes will be delivered back to the National Grid each year; Nestlé states that this contributes directly to the de-carbonising of the UK and Ireland’s electricity supply.
Stefano Agostini, CEO of Nestlé UK and Ireland, said: “We already use 100% renewable, grid supplied electricity across all our UK and Ireland operations, but now with the opening of Sanquhar wind farm, we can supply half of our own energy here in the UK and Ireland. I’m delighted we are not only using 100% renewable electricity to run our business here in the UK and Ireland, we are now responsible for producing it too.”
Nestlé said that the project has been welcomed enthusiastically throughout the planning process by the local community in rural Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway.
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