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    Bimbo Bakeries installing GreenStruxure Microgrids for six California manufacturing plants

    Nov. 22, 2022
    Once deployed, they are expected to reduce carbon emissions by about 25 percent and electricity use by the same portion.The six California bakeries are Montebello, Placentia, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, South San Francisco and Sacramento
    Image credit Bimbo Bakeries
    Bimbo Bakeries 623cc4cdc81d5

    (Editor's note: This story first ran in March 2022. Given the rise of microgrids in the commercial sector, we thought it was worthwhile to repost in EnergyTech).

    An international baking operation has chosen GreenStruxure to deploy net-zero microgrids on site at six of its bakeries.

    Bimbo Bakeries USA chose six California operations as the first sites for the hybrid systems. Once deployed, they are expected to reduce carbon emissions by about 25 percent and electricity use by the same portion.

    “Grupo Bimbo and Bimbo Bakeries USA are committed to Net Zero Carbon by 2050,” said Chris Wolfe, Bimbo Bakeries USA’s Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability. “These onsite microgrids represent a key component to our diversified strategy.”

    GreenStruxure, a microgrid energy-as-a-service joint venture of Schneider Electric and Huck Capital, will install modular and highly digital systems featuring battery storage, solar PV and back-up gen-sets. Under the EaaS model, GreenStruxure will install and pay for building the microgrids, while the customer pays a monthly bill on the service.

    Mexico-based parent Grupo Bimbo owns and operates nearly 200 bakery plants globally and plans to expand its microgrid goals in the near future.

    The six California bakeries – Montebello, Placentia, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, South San Francisco, and Sacramento – were chosen based on their energy intensity, increasing utility electricity costs and highest decarbonization impact.

    GreenStruxure hosting free Dec. 8 webinar on Bimbo Bakeries and Energy as Service. Register here!

    See EnergyTech's full coverage of Microgrids in the C&I and Mission-Critical Energy sectors

     In 2020, the company’s bakeries in Escondido, CA and Denver, CO were awarded Food Processing Magazine’s “Green Plant of the Year” and “The Colorado Environmental Leadership Award,” respectively.

    “Bimbo Bakeries USA’s actions have made it very clear that they are going to lead the market when it comes to sustainability,” said GreenStruxure CEO Jose Lorenzo. “On-site energy systems are Bimbo Bakeries USA’s best option to decarbonize and fulfill their long-term sustainability targets with optimized cost.”

    In addition to the Schneider Electric and Huck Capital support, GreenStruxure has also received $500 million in funding from private equity giant Blackstone’s ClearGen fund.

    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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