Bayer, a health care and nutrition company, has announced a long-term Structured Renewable Energy Credit (REC) Purchase Agreement with Cat Creek Energy (CCE), a renewable energy independent power producer. According to a release, this agreement “will satisfy Bayer’s renewable electricity needs and lead to the construction by CCE of multiple variable renewable energy resources plus energy storage facilities in Idaho.” Werner Baumann, Chief Executive Officer of Bayer AG, said that the innovative agreement with CCE “will secure 40 percent of Bayer’s global and 60 percent of Bayer’s U.S.-purchased electricity demand out of renewable sources, while meeting Bayer’s ambitious quality criteria for renewable electricity.”
Bayer has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the company and along its entire value chain in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The company aims to become climate-neutral in its operations in 2030 and to purchase 100% sustainable renewable electricity by 2030. In addition, Bayer is committed to the highest standards for sustainable renewable electricity based on guidelines from the World Wide Fund for Nature, including the proximity of renewable energy production facilities to Bayer sites.
The renewable energy projects will generate 1.4 TWh of clean electricity annually and enable Bayer to reduce annual emissions by 370,000 tons of CO2. Construction is slated to start in the third quarter of this year, and the installations under the agreement allow for battery storage of 160 MW nameplate capacity to support and strengthen regional transmission grid integrity and reliability.
The CCE President John Faulkner stated that “I appreciate Bayer’s alignment with the CCE vision and efforts to build out our multi-technology 1,760 MW platform. We admire Bayer’s commitment to find projects near its Idaho facility, which has the highest electricity use within Bayer in the United States, signifying a major milestone in their global energy goals.”
For Idaho, the renewable plus energy storage projects will continue the state’s conversion to clean reliable energy by 2045. The result will be over $1.5 billion in new electrical infrastructure, the creation of hundreds of jobs, and contribution of millions of dollars in year-over-year tax revenues for counties and schools where the projects are built. Energy storage is a vital technological component in the successful transition to clean energy, Bayer said. CCE is working on large volume long-duration storage development through its pumped storage hydro project and conceives, constructs, and commercializes renewable energy projects.
The 1,100 MW Cat Creek Energy & Water project to be built on the south fork of the Boise River will combine 980 MW of renewable power generation with 120 MW of offsite generation. The pumped storage project will use the existing Anderson Ranch Reservoir as the lower reservoir, with the construction of a new upper reservoir. The overall project features 720 MW of pumped storage, plus wind and solar resources. The pumped storage hydro project will provide 87,000 MWh of energy storage capacity.
