Hormel Foods recently announced a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for wind energy. Through this and other initiatives, the company will be supplied by almost 50% renewable wind power. In addition, the project will result in a reduction of approximately 197,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The new wind farm will be located near Milligan, Nebraska. Construction is expected to be completed in 2020. The farm will be capable of generating 74 MW of power and an estimated 349,000 MWh of electricity each year. Hormel Foods partnered with Kinect Energy Group to assess the project and negotiate the agreement.
In addition to this agreement, Hormel Foods also subscribes to community solar gardens at five manufacturing locations, including a co-sponsorship with Westar Energy for its first community solar garden near Wichita, Kan., where the company manufactures most of its Hormel Natural Choice bacon products.
In 2014, Hormel announced it had achieved a 60% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in, compared to 2013, at its Beijing, China plant after replacing two coal fire boilers with more efficient steam generators, relocating the equipment closer to ovens to reduce energy loss, and installing heat recovery technology and thermal solar panels to heat water for sanitation.
For reducing its CO2 emissions, the Beijing HFC Plant was named the 2014 Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best winner. The annual award recognizes Hormel Foods’ internal teams hat have identified areas for efficiency and implemented changes in the category of environmental sustainability.
The 4th Annual Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference takes place May 13 – 15, 2019 in Denver. Learn more here.
