BASF has announced that it is bundling its activities in renewable energies under the umbrella of BASF Renewable Energy GmbH as of Jan. 1, 2022. The wholly-owned subsidiary's business activities will focus on supplying the BASF Group in Europe with electricity from renewable energies, electricity trading activities, and global consulting for BASF and its group companies in the field of renewable energies.
The company is based in Ludwigshafen and will be handled by Horatio Evers, who was formerly responsible for the development of renewable energies at BASF SE.
BASF expects that by progressively replacing electricity from fossil generation, from own production as well as purchase agreements, and scaling innovative, climate-friendly technologies to an industrial scale, its electricity consumption in Europe will increase from the current level of around nine terawatt-hours of electricity from fossil generation per annum to the point where at least three to four times as much electricity from renewable sources will be needed to reach the net-zero goal.
BASF Renewable Energy GmbH is tasked with supplying the European sites with these additional volumes in line with demand. To this end, it will commence new additional projects to generate renewable energy from its production together with affiliates and conclude long-term supply agreements with energy producers, known as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
The projects already underway to generate electricity from renewable energy sources include the participation in the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm with Vattenfall, as well as the wind farm planned with RWE in the German North Sea.
"As the leading company in the chemical industry, we are already one of the largest industrial electricity consumers in Europe. Due to the conversion to renewable energy as well as the launch of new, low-emission production processes based on electricity, our demand will increase significantly in the future," said Horatio Evers, managing director of BASF Renewable Energy.
"The reliable and efficient supply to BASF with sufficient quantities of electricity from renewable sources at competitive prices is necessary for the implementation of our goals and the achievement of the targeted climate neutrality. We are committed to a make-and-buy strategy in this regard."