LyondellBasell makes rapid progress in renewable energy goal

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Image credit: LyondellBasell

Chemical industry company LyondellBasell has inked the first two European renewable electricity power purchase agreements (PPAs) and two additional PPAs in the United States. 

The combined additional contracts represent a total of approximately 560 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity. 

According to LyondellBasell, it has now signed eight PPA contracts, exceeding half of its 2030 goal of obtaining at least 50 per cent of the world’s electricity from renewable sources.

These PPAs are predicted to produce more than 2.6 million megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable electricity each year and cut LyondellBasell’s scope 2 emissions by approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions, which is equal to the emissions brought on by more than 370,000 families’ yearly electricity use.

“Decarbonizing the electricity supply through purchasing renewable electricity is crucial to meet LyondellBasell’s 2030 and 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets,” said Willemien Terpstra, LyondellBasell Vice President for Decarbonization.

Terpstra also noted that the combined contracts represent substantial progress towards the company’s overall aim to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42 per cent by 2030, relative to a 2020 baseline. 

In particular, the initial contract is for a number of Nordic projects, with the first quarter of 2026 being the anticipated start of operations. For LyondellBasell, the projects amount to about 230 MW of renewable energy capacity.

Meanwhile, the Tarragona Solar Project is the first physical PPA initiative located at a LyondellBasell production site in Spain, which is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2023 with approximately 5 MW of renewable energy capacity. 

Two further PPAs were signed by LyondellBasell in the US. For LyondellBasell, these projects are situated in Texas and have a capacity for about 320 MW of renewable energy.