Covestro, a manufacturer of polymer materials and their components, has signed a 90 MW, 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Orsted for a portion of power from the planned Mockingbird Solar Center in Lamar County, Texas, marking Covestro’s first renewable energy agreement in the U.S.
The VPPA is expected to reduce the Scope 2 emissions from Covestro’s third largest production site, located in Baytown, Texas.
Covestro set itself ambitious climate neutrality goals in 2022. One major lever to reach these goals is to obtain power from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power. Agreements like this VPPA with Orsted helps advance this transition.
“The Mockingbird Solar Center is a unique project that represents both preservation and progress,” says Monica Testa, head of origination at Orsted. “The clean energy produced by the solar center will help Covestro to decarbonize its operations, while the conservation of rare native tallgrass prairie habitat supports plant and wildlife biodiversity in the region.”
Edison Energy worked with Covestro to broker the agreement for the VPPA. Orsted’s Mockingbird Solar Center is expected to produce enough energy to power roughly 80,000 homes and is slated to begin operation in late 2024. At that time, Covestro will start executing on the VPPA, which represents nearly 20% of the Mockingbird Solar Center’s capacity.
At the end of 2022, Covestro had already covered 12 percent of its global energy requirements with electricity from renewable sources. That figure is expected to rise to 16 to 18 percent in by the end of this year.
