(Bloomberg) — Haven Power Ltd., a unit of Drax Group Plc,
signed a 520 million-pound ($801 million) deal to supply Thames
Water Utilities Ltd. with clean energy.
Thames Water will get all its electricity from renewables
as a result of the deal, according to a statement on Monday from
the water utility serving London. Already the utility, which
provides water and sewer services to 15 million customers, gets
about 20 percent of its power from wind, solar, hydro power and
biogas.
Haven buys its energy from Drax, which is converting the
country’s largest coal-fired power station to burn wood pellets.
Two out of six units at the plant in northern England have been
converted, and a third may start working later this year.
“Our energy and carbon strategy centers around reducing
costs for customers and minimizing our impact on the
environment,” Angus Berry, Thames Water’s energy manager, said
in the statement. “We look forward to growing our relationship
with Haven to exploit further opportunities to minimize energy
costs and emissions, as well as continuing to work towards our
ambitious target of self-generating 30 percent of our own
electricity by 2020.”
Britain’s water utilities are increasingly turning to
renewables to shield themselves from volatile energy prices.
United Utilities Group Plc, the U.K.’s largest publicly traded
water company, said last week it will invest at least 100
million pounds in low-carbon power over five years. Severn Trent
Plc is planning 190 million pounds of investment in renewables.
Haven will supply electricity for five years to Thames
Water, whose “super sewer” tunnel project under London was
given the development go-ahead last September. There is an
option for two further five-year renewals that would increase
the overall value of the contract to more than 1.5 billion
pounds over 15 years, according to the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Randall Hackley