For its first renewable energy installation in the US, the polycarbonate and polyurethanes specialist has agreed to draw an unspecified volume of solar energy from the Danish firm’s Mockingbird Solar Center in Lamar County, Texas.

Covestro said the 15-year vPPA could potentially offset 70,000 t of CO₂ emissions annually and reduce Scope 2 emissions from its third largest production site.

Building on Covestro’s existing agreement with Ørsted dating from 2019, CEO Markus Steilemann said the inclusion of renewable energy to help power the company’s production facilities is a “critical component” of its plans to become operationally climate neutral by 2035.

Monica Testa, head of Origination at Ørsted, said the clean energy produced by the solar center due to begin operation in late 2024 will help Covestro decarbonize its operations, while the conservation of rare native tallgrass prairie habitat supports plant and wildlife biodiversity in the region.

The plastics producer’s commitment will represent 20% of Mockingbird’s annual solar output.

Under the earlier, ten-year, pact between Ørsted and Covestro, the renewables producer has agreed to supply Covestro’s production sites in Germany with power generated by a newly built wind farm in the North Sea near the island of Borkum.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist