FrieslandCampina pays its members directly for their sustainable energy

94% of FrieslandCampina’s worldwide electricity usage  in 2019 is ‘green’. This is because the company no longer wants to use fossil energy sources for its locations. FrieslandCampina is taking a step further this year. Not only must electricity usage be 100% green, the company wants to purchase this green electricity directly from its member dairy farmers and pay them in line with market prices. To accomplish this it will work with “Power Purchase Agreements”.

Already 50 dairy farmers connected via new method
Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) go beyond the “Guarantees of Origin” (GoOs) that are now commonplace. A GoO is a certified proof that energy has been generated sustainably. This allows ‘grey’ purchased energy to become green. Via a PPA, FrieslandCampina can directly purchase green energy from member dairy farmers (see fig. 1 & 2). At present, more than 50 member dairy farmers already supply green energy to FrieslandCampina via PPAs. Together, these “energy farmers” already account for about 10% of the Dutch electricity needs of the dairy company. FrieslandCampina works together with CNS, a specialist in this field, for the PPA.

Value within the own chain
In the traditional model, in which electricity and GoOs are sold separately, several parties are active in the chain, with each party adding costs. Thanks to FrieslandCampina’s unique construction between the cooperative and the company, it is possible to maintain this value within the dairy chain with direct contracts, and the producer is immediately rewarded in line with the market by its own dairy company.

With programmes such as Solar, Windv and Jumpstart, FrieslandCampina accelerates sustainable energy generation on the farm, thereby making an important contribution to the Dutch energy transition. The sustainable energy generation of more than 2,500 member dairy farms can be followed live via www.frieslandcampinaopwek.nl.