Borealis and VERBUND sign first long-term hydropower purchase agreement to supply the Borealis location in Schwechat from January 2023
Borealis and VERBUND are concluding a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a term of ten years for the supply of electricity from two VERBUND hydropower plants on the Danube. Borealis is thus approaching its goal of operating its polyolefin and hydrocarbon production facilities entirely with renewable energy by 2030. Through cross-sectoral partnerships in the areas of hydropower and solar energy generation and supply, Borealis and VERBUND are advancing decarbonisation in Austria.
Borealis, one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and sustainable polyolefin solutions and a European pioneer in the field of polyolefin recycling, and VERBUND, Austria’s leading energy supply, announce the signing of a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA), which will secure the supply of Borealis’ location in Schwechat, Austria, with electricity generated from hydropower from January 2023. The annual delivered quantity of around 220 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity from renewable sources is comparable with the amount of energy needed to supply 50,000 Austrian households for a whole year. VERBUND will supply electricity from two of its Austrian hydropower plants on the Danube, in Aschach and Abwinden-Asten. VERBUND, one of the largest hydropower generators in Europe, obtains around 97% of its electricity from renewable sources – mainly from hydropower.
This long-term agreement follows the recently announced joint project to construct a photovoltaic facility, which will also be implemented in Schwechat. With the new PPA, Borealis will move even closer to its goal of procuring 100% of the electricity needed for the production of its main business areas (polyolefins and hydrocarbons) from renewable energy by 2030. This is also an important step towards decarbonisation: the electricity generated from renewables under the new PPA will reduce the Scope 2 emissions produced by Borealis at the Schwechat site by around 75,000 tonnes per year. According to the definition of the greenhouse gas protocol, Scope 2 emissions are greenhouse gas emissions that are generated by electricity that is purchased or obtained in some other way, as well as emissions that are produced by steam, heat and cold.
“The ambitious sustainability targets of our Borealis Strategy 2030 are moving ever closer within reach, not least thanks to our cross-sector partnership with VERBUND,” explains Thomas Gangl, CEO of Borealis. “Thanks to the approximately 2,200 GWh that will be supplied at our location in Schwechat in the next ten years under this PPA, we are ideally on course to achieve our goal of procuring 100% of the electricity from renewable sources by 2030. These measures show that we are constantly striving to find new ways to make our life even more sustainable.”
“We are very happy about our long-term strategic partnership with Borealis. Our goal at VERBUND is to use our know-how and experience in the field of renewable energies to accompany our partners on the path to decarbonisation,” explains Michael Strugl, CEO of VERBUND. “The only way to achieve ambitious climate and energy targets leads via innovation, close collaboration and persistence. Together with our partner Borealis, we are advancing the energy transition in Austria and across Europe.”
