Building materials manufacturing giant Saint-Gobain has signed a 10-year renewable electricity supply agreement with TotalEnergies for its 145 industrial locations in the U.S. and Canada
The 200-MW Power Purchase Agreement for solar power is expected to help the company offset its CO2 emission from electricity by 210,000 Metric Tons per year in North America, a reduction of approximately 33%. The agreement is expected to start at the end of 2024.
In many PPAs, the companies don’t receive the renewable energy directly from the generation resource, but it helps finance the investment in carbon reduction projects on the grid. Companies can use the projects to generate Renewable Energy Credits, which are different than offsets.
“With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will dramatically reduce its CO2 emissions while sending a strong signal to the market that the manufacturing industry is ready to commit to green electricity,” Mark Rayfield, CEO of Saint-Gobain North America, said in a statement. “This renewable energy project is critical to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 33% by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”
This is Saint-Gobain’s second PPA signed for North America. It signed one for a wind project in Blooming Grove, Illinois.
The two projects are expected to represent a 62% decline in scope 2 emissions offsets for Saint-Gobain in North America.
Saint-Gobain’s other initiatives include an upgrade of its equipment at the Buchanan, New York gypsum plant to save electricity and reduce GHG emissions and installing heat recovery technology at its CertainTeed site in Vancouver, British Columbia that will reduce CO2 emissions by 10%.
Saint-Gobain and its CertainTeed subsidiary have committed to carbon reduction energy projects across their North American production lines. One move is to electrify operations at a Montreal gypsum plant, as well as installing variable drive technology for equipment used in the New York gypsum plant.
