Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with French developer Engie to source green electricity from the newly-built 300MW Wellington North Solar Farm in New South Wales, Australia.
Under the terms of the VPPA, CCEP will acquire a percentage of the renewable energy and associated Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the solar PV power plant, which is owned by Lightsource bp. In doing so, the organisation will be fully powered by renewable energy by 1 January 2025, a year ahead of its pre-agreed target.
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The ten-year agreement with Engie will enable CCEP to secure the remaining energy needed to fulfil its RE100 commitment, a major milestone on the company’s journey towards net zero.
Orlando Rodriguez, managing director at CCEP Australia, said the organisation has engaged in a strategic power purchase agreement and made the most of rooftop solar PV on its facilities to reach this milestone.
“Our partnership with Engie and the signing of the VPPA agreement has accelerated our transition to reach our RE100 target in Australia a full year early. This will make CCEP one of the first FMCG players in the country to achieve the RE100 commitment and is an important milestone for our business,” Rodriguez added.
Wellington North Solar Farm is located north-east of Wellington and south-east of Dubbo in the Orana region of New South Wales. The site spans approximately 970 hectares, utilises more than 1.2 million solar PV modules and has the capacity to generate 925,000MWh of renewable electricity per year.
Power purchase agreements in Australia
CCEP has become the latest company to offtake renewable energy produced by solar PV power plants in Australia in recent months. Indeed, yesterday (17 September), PV Tech reported that state-owned energy company Stanwell inked a 15-year PPA to secure renewable energy derived from 775MW of solar PV owned by Genex Power in Queensland.
The agreement encompasses the Bulli Creek Stage 1 Solar Farm, which has a generation capacity of 775MW. It is being co-developed by Genex and J-POWER, which recently acquired Genex.
Once in operation, the companies claim, it will become the largest grid-connected solar farm in Australia. Under the terms of the PPA, Stanwell will purchase up to 550MW from Bulli Creek Stage 1 Solar Farm, situated in southern Queensland, to the west of Brisbane.
Earlier this month (11 September), Australian telecommunications giant Telstra inked a PPA to secure 50% of the electricity generated from the 260MW Glenellen Solar Farm in New South Wales.
Australia’s Global Power Generation (GPG) secured the project from Trina Solar in February 2024, with the company detailing that the project was “one of the largest solar farms under development in New South Wales, with an estimated 393,960 panels, spread over 300 hectares of land”, in an article for PV Tech.
