(Photo: The Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant in Germany. Credit: Daimler)
Daimler signed a long-term deal with Norwegian renewable energy provider Statkraft to power all of the automotive corporation’s German sites with electricity supplied from solar, wind, and hydropower plants in the country.
The contractual details were not disclosed, but Statkraft said that the renewable energy combination and scale represent a first for Germany.
“A large share of the electricity supplied to the Daimler sites will be generated in German solar, wind and hydroelectric power plants,” the companies involved said. “Statkraft will generate the remaining quantities in its hydropower plants.”
Daimler’s current electricity supplier Enovos says it will continue managing energy for the automotive corporation including physical delivery, billing, grid usage, consumption forecasts, and hedging renewable electricity quantities.
Previously, in December 2018, Mercedes-Benz Cars and Statkraft announced an agreement to source power for German plants from wind farms in the country. Under that earlier arrangement, wind power would supply the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen and the automaker’s German battery production locations, like Kamenz and Stuttgart-Untertürkheim.
“To generate green electricity exactly when it is needed is a major challenge that can only be met with considerable flexibility in generation,” said Statkraft CEO Christian Rynning-Tønnesen. “Our flexible hydropower plants complement the fluctuating power generation from wind and solar so that a 100% renewable power supply is guaranteed at all times.”