DONG Energy Powers Welsh Water

DONG Energy has powered up a five-year contract to supply green energy to supply Welsh Water across more than 4,000 operational sites.

The competitive tender win comes as part of DONG Energy’s premium free green electricity offering launched last year which offers renewable energy at no premium to traditional brown energy supplies.

“Welsh Water are making fantastic progress in reducing their carbon footprint but, while generating as much energy in-house as they can, they still need to look the market for the bulk of their needs,” Jeff Whittingham, managing director of DONG Energy’s UK sales business, said.

“We are delighted they have chosen DONG Energy to supply green energy for their 4,300 sites over the next five years,” he added. “As the global leader in offshore wind, we are well placed to deliver a bespoke service meeting their requirements. This contract represents significant growth of our power business which has continued to grow during the first half of 2017.”

DONG Energy’s renewable electricity comes from 100% offshore wind and can be reported as zero CO2 emissions in World Resources Institute (WRI) greenhouse gas Scope 2 market based reporting.

A not-for-profit company and the fifth largest business in Wales, Welsh Water supplies 828 million litres of water every day to over three million people, including 1.4 million homes and businesses. It serves most of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside.

Supplying high quality drinking water and removing and treating wastewater uses a great deal of energy. The rural nature of much of Wales means Welsh Water has more assets per customer than most other water and sewerage companies and an electricity bill in excess of GBP 44 million, DONG said.

The company is committed to generating as much renewable energy as they can and already produces renewable electricity on 50 of its sites using bio-gas / anaerobic digestion, hydro, solar and wind power.

Mike Pedley, Head of Energy for Welsh Water said: “Our contract with DONG Energy secures green energy for the next five years whilst also offering good value for Welsh Water. As a not-for-profit company every pound we can save on energy helps us keep bills down for customers. We are also looking forward to exploring how we can best utilise DONG Energy’s flexibility services to drive further value from our operations.”