Coca-Cola steps closer to 100 pct renewables in deal with huge wind farm

The Australian operations of global beverage giant Coca-Cola have moved another step closer to being powered by 100 per cent renewables, after signing an energy offtake deal with one of Western Australia’s biggest and best performing wind farms.

Alinta Energy said on Tuesday that it has signed an eight-year power supply deal with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners – the entity formed last year by Coca-Cola European Partners’ acquisition of Australian bottling company Coca-Cola Amatil.

The agreement, which kicks off in 2023, includes large-scale generation certificates and 13,000MWh a year of renewable electricity from Alinta’s 214MW Yandin Wind Farm, in the WA wheatbelt town of Dandaragan, 175km north of Perth.

Coca-Cola Amatil, just prior to its acquisition in May of 2021, in February of 2021 announced a commitment to switch to 100 per cent renewables for its Australian operations by 2025.

The following April it joined the global RE100 renewable energy initiative and committed to power its entire operations, spanning six countries, with 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

The maker and distributor of some of the world’s most popular beverage brands, including Coca-Cola, Kirks and Mount Franklin, says the new wind power offtake deal with Alinta bolsters its commitments in both Australia and globally.

“CCEP is taking serious action to reduce our carbon footprint across our operations, and as a global business, we have set bold targets,” said Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ vice president and general manager of Australia, Pacific, and Indonesia, Peter West.

“Our partnership with Alinta Energy brings us a step closer to achieving our target of 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, which is one of the ways we’ll reach net zero by 2040,” West said.

Alinta’s Yandin wind farm is one of the best performing wind energy generators in Australia, topping Rystad Energy’s monthly list in April of this year, with a capacity factor of 50 per cent.

Alinta Energy’s chief Jeff Dimery says the deal to supply CCEP Australia and its iconic brands is a welcome development for the wind farm.

“Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has been ambitious and enthusiastic about transitioning their business to renewables,” Dimery said on Tuesday. “It’s terrific leadership and we congratulate them on their long-term commitment.”

Alinta Energy aims to have 1500MW of owned and contracted renewable generation online by 2025 and says it is almost two-thirds of the way to meeting that target.

Dimery says the company currently has 900MW of owned and contracted renewables on the books and several gigawatts under development.

Last year, Alinta unveiled plans for a 1,000MW wind farm off the coast of Portland in Victoria, to help power the Portland aluminium smelter with up to 100 per cent renewables, and inject green energy into the country’s main grid.

Note: An earlier version of this story said Yandin was the biggest wind farm in W.A. It turns out it’s not because of a re-rating of the 207MW Collgar wind farm back to its original specifications of 222MW following a software upgrade.