Steven ZeniosThis ground-breaking deal is known at the “Power Purchase Agreement” (PPA) that will supply electricity from wind farms in Scotland and Wales to universities such as Newcastle University, Aberystwyth University and University of Exeter.
The agreement has been put together by The Energy Consortium and Squeaky-Clean Energy to freeze the price of renewable energy from wind farms for the next 10 years.
Chief operating officer of one of the participating universities James Rolfe said they were inclined to join as the university amongst others have joined in declaring a climate emergency. The university plans to be climate neutral by 2030.
He commented further:
To support this commitment we aim to source all of our electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2025, and this power purchase agreement makes a significant contribution towards this goal whilst delivering financial savings and budget stability.
Managing director of The Energy Consortium Richard Murphy said the deal would reduce carbon emissions and also save money as the power purchase market will be accessed for the first time. He commented
The combined challenge facing the wider public sector is to secure reduced carbon emissions whilst saving money and I am delighted that these universities have secured both.
Richard Murphy has been involved in arranging other energy corporate deals in Europe, supply a supermarket giant with renewable energy in 2008. These types of deals are paving the way for other businesses to follow with companies such as Google investing in the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.
