Wind farm will enable Arla to meet target of 100 percent green electricity in Denmark by 2025

Arla and Eurowind Energy have just entered into a 10-year power purchase agreement, which will ensure that Arla reaches its target of 100 percent green electricity in Denmark by 2025. The electricity will come from a unsubsidised wind farm in Jammerbugt Municipality, which will deliver 137 GW/h electricity, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 34,000 Danish households.

In January, Arla presented an ambitious target of using 100 percent green electricity in Europe by the end of 2025. Now the cooperative can announce a 10-year power purchase agreement with Eurowind Energy, which will ensure that Arla reaches its target in Denmark.

With this power purchase agreement, which becomes effective on January 1 2025, at the latest, Arla commits itself to buying the electricity from an unsubsidised wind farm called Nørre Økse Sø located near the town of Brovst in Jammerbugt Municipality.

There is already a wind farm on the site, which is a part of a re-powering project where existing turbines will be replaced by 11 newly built and up-to-date turbines. The new wind turbines are expected to become operational in November 2024 and will be able to deliver 137 GW/h electricity a year, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 34,000 Danish households.

”Every day, we work on fulfilling our climate goals – both in terms of production and among our owners. This involves being able to produce all our products with green electricity. The new agreement is therefore an important milestone in our climate work. And I am proud that there already now is clarity about the path to deliver on this ambition,” says Hanne Søndergaard, Sustainability Director in Arla.

Over the course of the 10-year agreement, the green energy from the turbines will provide an annual saving of 58,000 tonnes of CO2, which corresponds to 8% of Arla's total CO2 footprint for scope 1+2.

Arla’s production runs on wind, sun, and biogas

The new agreement regarding the wind farm Nørre Økse Sø is just one of many initiatives, which provides Arla’s dairy and production plants with green electricity. In addition to the 137 GW/h electricity, which the wind farm is expected to deliver, Arla also receives renewable energy from solar cells, biogas engines, and own units from a number of Arla farms throughout Denmark. Electricity from renewable energy sources is part of Arla’s total climate target to reduce CO2-emissions from its production by 63 percent before 2030.

”At Arla we are fully committed to reducing our climate footprint so that consumers can continue to enjoy our dairy products. We have therefore doubled our ambitions across our production and now have a target to reduce our CO2 emissions by 63 percent before 2030. Reaching our target of 100 percent green electricity in Denmark is a good step on the way,” says Hanne Søndergaard.

Overall, Arla has already reduced its CO2-emissions from production by 25 percent since 2015.

CEO of Eurowind Energy, Jens Rasmussen, is pleased that the agreement can contribute towards Arla’s climate ambitions.

"We are proud that Arla has chosen to enter into the agreement with us. With its ambitious climate strategy, Arla is leading the way and we are happy to be able to supply green electricity, so that Arla can pursue its goals and contribute to the green transition. The agreement also means that we can build another subsidy-free green energy plant. In the future, we will enter into more agreements of this type to further accelerate the green transition”, says Jens Rasmussen.

The 11 wind turbines for the wind farm Nørre Økse Sø will be delivered by Vestas. Delivery is expected in 2023.