Hormel aims to become powered by almost 50% renewable energy

Hormel Foods said it will be powered by almost 50% wind power, as the company signs a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for wind energy.

A new wind farm located near Milligan, Nebraska, will help the maker of Columbus meats and Skippy peanut butter achieve the goal alongside “other initiatives”. Construction of the wind farm is expected to be completed in 2020.

The facility will be capable of 74 MW of power and an estimated 349,000 MWh of electricity each year. Hormel Foods has partnered with Kinect Energy Group to assess the project and negotiate the agreement.

Tom Raymond, director of environmental sustainability at Hormel Foods, said: “As a leading corporate citizen in our industry, we are inspired by projects that minimise environmental impacts and align with the interests of our customers and consumers around the world.

“This agreement supports our company’s environmental sustainability goals and is a testament to our commitment and support of renewable energy.”

Nicholas Franco, director of sustainability services at Kinect Energy Group, said: “We were excited to partner with Hormel Foods to help them meet their renewable energy and sustainability goals.

“We were able to leverage our deep electric market experience to assess the project economics and negotiate a VPPA agreement that worked perfectly for Hormel Foods.”

Hormel said it subscribes to community solar gardens at five manufacturing locations, including a co-sponsorship with Westar Energy for its first community solar garden near Wichita, Kansas, where the company manufactures most of its Hormel Natural Choice bacon products.

“The addition of renewable energy helps to clean the electrical grid and drive sustainable food production,” said Coulter Wood, energy manager at Hormel Foods. “We will look to lead the way in renewable energy acquisition as we continue to feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable manner.”