News and press releases - VELUX Media Centre | VELUX Group

New solar park in Spain combining agriculture and biodiversity provides VELUX Group with renewable power

Tue, 28 May 2024 10:00:00 +0200

A large solar park developed for the VELUX Group to meet its renewable power needs in Europe is now fully operational and connected to the local electricity grid in Spain. The 54 MWp-photovoltaic (PV) park integrates renewable electricity production, agriculture and biodiversity. It is the first Agri-PV solar park global renewable energy company BayWa r.e. built in Spain, based on a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with VELUX.

In November 2022, the VELUX Group and BayWa r.e. announced a PPA to develop two large solar PV parks in southern Spain: one in Gerena, close to Seville, and the other in Alhendín, near Granada. The Alhendín park was recently completed and is now delivering electricity to the local power grid.

With Alhendín fully operational, VELUX has achieved its 100% renewable electricity goal, while enabling a new renewable energy plant in Europe. The park consists of more than 85,000 solar panels and produces 96.8 GWh of electricity annually, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 24,700 households.

Pioneering Agri-PV installation
The Alhendín solar park is a pioneering Agri-PV installation, combining renewable energy generation and agriculture: about 10% of the park is designed to allow farming machinery to pass between solar panels. This project is the first of its kind for BayWa r.e. in Spain.

Solar Plant Symbiosis
The Solar Plant Symbiosis includes a suite of measures to enhance biodiversity and foster community involvement. The project is currently being developed in partnership with the two Spanish universities Universidad de Córdoba and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

So far, the scope of the Solar Plant Symbiosis includes the following additional measures:

Baseline studies, digitalisation and monitoring of vegetation

Agri-PV pilot and rainwater collection system
Grass planting with natural seeds and wildflower species
Wildlife refuges, ponds for amphibians, bird drinking tanks, nest boxes and posts
Hatching area to protect the endangered Lesser Kestrel bird species
Steppe habitat improvement
Monitoring and assessment of measures to create a guide of best practices that can be replicated in other projects
Social actions in the area, such as workshops with local interest groups and educational school visits

Looking ahead
These measures in the Alhendín park will be established step by step and are expected to be fully realised by Spring 2025. The Gerena solar park is awaiting regulatory approval locally and is scheduled to be completed in 2025. The capacity of the Gerena park is expected to be about 60 MWp.

When both solar plants are fully operational, they will generate 167 GWh of renewable electricity annually for VELUX, equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 45,000 European homes. About 80% of the electricity produced from the plants will be generated due to the PPA with VELUX. The PPA will reduce the carbon footprint of the VELUX Group by approximately 40,000 tonnes of CO₂e from the company’s European operations and activities on a yearly basis.

VELUX Group makes progress towards 100% renewable electricity, zero-plastic packaging and historical emission capture

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 09:30:00 +0200

The report provides updates on all targets, including progress towards becoming carbon neutral in our own operations, halving CO₂e emissions from our value chain and capturing the equivalent of the total carbon footprint of our company’s operations between 1941 and 2041 (historical scope 1 and 2 CO₂e emissions).

First carbon capture forest project underway
One of the major highlights of 2021 was the start-up of the first carbon capture forest project in Uganda with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This is part of our commitment to capture the Group’s historical carbon emissions from our operations (scope one and two). The Uganda project aims to capture around one million tonnes of CO₂ by restoring and conserving forests in the Albertine Rift in Uganda, a biodiversity hotspot. This is the first of five forest projects that combined will capture the VELUX Group’s historical CO₂. All projects are developed and run by WWF.

100% renewable electricity supply by 2023
As part of our aim to become carbon neutral, we are working on a global decarbonisation programme with carbon neutral action plans for each of our factory sites. In 2021, we partnered with Schneider Electric to speed up the switch to 100% renewable energy for electricity by 2023 through a renewable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contract. This is contributing to our 2030 target of a 100% reduction in the carbon footprint of our own operations.

Green our packaging
During 2021, we worked on transitioning to single material, 100% recyclable packaging with zero plastic. To do this, we developed a new packaging material made solely of paper and cardboard to replace the previous material that was a mix of plastic, paper and cardboard. This new material provides the required protection for products and makes it easier for customers to dispose of the packaging in one waste category. It is already being used for main residential windows in Europe and selected products in the US.

We achieved limited assurance for our 2021 sustainability reporting and are working towards achieving the auditing level of reasonable assurance in the next few years.

See our Sustainability Report 2021 highlights.

Read the full Sustainability Report 2021.

The VELUX Group and Schneider Electric Announce Extended Partnership to Accelerate Lifetime Carbon Neutral Commitment

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 07:10:00 +0200

The VELUX Group, the world leader in roof windows and skylights, and Schneider Electric, the global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced that the companies have executed a new extended partnership agreement to enable the VELUX Group to reach its Company Carbon Neutral goal by 2030 and accelerate its overall commitment to become Lifetime Carbon Neutral in response to an increasing need to proactively address climate change.

Building on the announcement earlier this year that Schneider Electric will help VELUX source the equivalent of 100% renewable electricity by 2023 to achieve its RE100 target, under the new agreement, Schneider Electric will develop a global programme with zero-carbon action plans for each of the VELUX Group’s factory sites to successfully reduce their energy use and scale renewable capacity.

The broadened focus of the partnership will further the VELUX Group’s ambition to be 100% carbon neutral (scope 1 and 2) by 2030 – decades ahead of other corporate targets – and Lifetime Carbon Neutral by the Group’s 100-year anniversary in 2041. This pioneering commitment means the Group has committed to capture its historical carbon footprint, reduce its future carbon emissions in line with and beyond the prevailing climate science behind the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C scenario, and partner with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on forest conservation projects around the world. The VELUX Group is also working to halve carbon emissions across its value chain (scope 3) by 2030.

The three-year partnership includes all VELUX factory sites. Schneider Electric – recognised last February as the world’s most sustainable corporation in 2021 by the Corporate Knights Global 100 Index – will develop a global decarbonisation programme, including the following:

Energy assessment of all VELUX Group factory sites resulting in the development and implementation of zero-carbon action plans;
Support of VELUX Group’s Energy Excellence programme in accordance with ISO50001, improving energy efficiency activities and expanding onsite renewable heating and electricity capacity to phase out fossil fuels; and
Implementation of a global monitoring system through Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure™ Resource Advisor to measure and analyse energy usage.

VELUX will pilot the zero-carbon action plans at two of the company’s top energy-consuming plants, which represent approximately 25% of all energy used in VELUX production: JTJ Sonneborn Industrie GmbH in Germany and NM Polska Sp. z o.o. in Poland. Significant investments will be made at these sites to convert to renewable heating sources by installing heat pumps powered by green electricity and using wood waste from certified (FSC/PEFC) forests produced on site. VELUX will also invest in on-site solar photovoltaic energy installations and continue to improve the sites’ energy efficiency by optimising supply systems, production processes, and energy management.

The VELUX Group and Schneider Electric partner to pursue renewable energy

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0100

The VELUX Group and Schneider Electric, the global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced they will pursue renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), in a partnership. This will further the world’s leading roof window manufacturer’s efforts to deliver on its 100% renewable electricity (RE100) target by 2023, which is part of its company carbon neutral goal for 2030.

The prospective PPAs aim to enable the development of new renewable energy projects across Europe, with Schneider Electric supporting the VELUX Group in the procurement process as a full-service buyer’s advisor. The VELUX Group’s primary motivation is to achieve its RE100 target and bring new renewable energy onto the grid.

This effort is one part of the VELUX Group’s commitment to become a 100 percent carbon neutral company (scope 1 and 2). Furthermore, it is working to halve carbon emissions across its value chain (scope 3) by 2030. At the same time, the Group will capture its historical carbon footprint – dating back to its founding in 1941 – through forest conservation projects, identified and managed by Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). Together, these initiatives are expected to support the VELUX Group’s overall commitment to be Lifetime Carbon Neutral by 2041.

The prospective PPAs aim to represent a mix of clean technologies, with VELUX looking to secure a long-term commitment to purchase power at a fixed price. A PPA provides renewable energy developers the business case needed to establish new, clean power generation. For VELUX, a PPA will ensure stability and predictability in electricity prices and enable the company to address its scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

The VELUX Group is seeking to pursue new non-subsidised renewable energy projects in EU countries, ensuring clean energy is added to the grid and thereby replacing “brown” power produced from fossil fuels in the most additional way.

Renewable electricity purchasing is one part of the VELUX Group’s commitment to eliminate the company’s reliance on energy produced by fossil fuels. The initial focus is on improving energy efficiency across all sites, as well as establishing onsite renewable heating and onsite renewable electricity capabilities by using solar cells. Combined, this will help the VELUX Group reach its ambitious target of zero carbon on all sites by 2030.