Lafarge to cover 20% of energy needs in Poland with wind power

March 23 (Renewables Now) - Cement producer Lafarge said it has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) with RWE Supply & Trading to cover 20% of its consumption in Poland with electricity from wind farms.

The 10-year contract will ensure the supply of green energy from the facilities of Windfarm Polska III in northern Poland, near Gdansk, Lafarge said in a media statement on Tuesday.

The deal will get Lafarge closer to its goal of 100% green energy by 2030, the company pointed out. A PPA is a good solution for achieving climate goals when it is not possible to meet high demand with own green generation capacity at the plants, Lafarge Polska CFO Dawid Robak said.

The company is also developing a 41-MW photovoltaic (PV) project on the premises of a former cement plant in Wierzbica, which will satisfy up to 10% of its energy demand, and is installing photovoltaic panels on office buildings.

Windfarm Polska III, with a total capacity of 132-MW, belongs to German municipal utility Stadtwerke Muenchen (SWM). Equipped and serviced by Danish major Vestas, it was commissioned in 2021.

RWE Supply & Trading said earlier this month that it was marketing electricity produced by the facilities of Windfarm Polska III and had already contracted 180 GWh of power supply to local customers from the construction sector.