Ørsted powers up green energy supply for Welsh Water

The competitive tender win comes as Ørsted are enjoying considerable success in the UK industrial and commercial power market, offering green electricity and market leading demand response products. Customers have been 100% renewable electricity and the opportunity to create more value from demand side participation.

Ashley Phillips, Managing Director of Ørsted's UK sales business, said:
"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 to the market for the bulk of their needs.

"We are delighted they have chosen Ørsted 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."

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 have more assets per customer than most other water and sewerage companies and an electricity bill in excess of £44 million.

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

Mike Pedley, Head of Energy for Welsh Water said:
"Our contract with Ørsted 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 Ørsted's flexibility services to drive further value from our operations."

Ørsted'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. The company's supplies all of its customers with 100% renewable electricity and forms part of Ørsted's integrated approach to sustainability. It compliments a range of products designed to support businesses in achieving carbon and cost reduction, through a combination of energy reduction activities, flexibility and demand management solutions, and commodity cost management.