French industrial minerals group Imerys has signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with energy utility ENGIE to source 200 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable electricity annually from new solar projects in Spain, the companies said on Thursday.
Under the agreement, ENGIE will develop and operate three solar facilities, with commissioning scheduled for early 2026 and 2027. Once operational, the solar plants will provide 24% of Imerys’ annual electricity consumption across continental Europe.
The deal is expected to cut approximately 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year and reduce Imerys’ Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 14%. It will also contribute to a 4% reduction in the company’s combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
“This agreement represents a significant milestone in our decarbonisation roadmap in Europe and demonstrates our determination to expand the supply of renewable energy across our operations,” said Leah Wilson, chief sustainability officer at Imerys. “Thanks to ENGIE’s expertise, we not only accelerated our progress towards our global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030, in line with the 1.5°C trajectory, but we also helped our customers achieve their own decarbonisation goals.”
The CPPA expands Imerys’ global renewable energy portfolio, which includes a 15-year solar agreement in the United States and additional installations in the UK, Bahrain, Malaysia and China.
Jean-Nicolas Lejeune, managing director of ENGIE Supply & Energy Management Iberia, said the project reflects ENGIE’s focus on enabling industrial decarbonisation through customised energy solutions.
“Collaborating with Imerys on this ambitious project reinforces our shared commitment to making industrial decarbonisation a reality in Europe,” Lejeune said. “Our ability to combine asset development with expertise in energy markets and tailor-made contract structuring is what sets ENGIE apart in the industrial energy transition.”
The initiative supports ENGIE’s broader target of reaching 95 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable capacity by 2030, with plans to deploy an average of 7GW of renewable and storage projects annually.
