Dong Energy to provide green power to UK’s Welsh Water

Denmark-based Dong Energy has secured a contract to supply green power to UK-based water services company Welsh Water under a five year contract.

The power will be used by Welsh Water’s more than 4,000 operational sites across the country.

The UK firm has taken this decision as part of its commitment to increase the use of renewables in its energy consumption.

Currently, Welsh Water produces about 20% of its energy through wind, hydro, solar and advanced anaerobic digestion and aims to increase it to 30% by 2019.

Welsh Water is a not-for-profit organisation that supplies about 828 million litres of water every day to more than three million people, serving most of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside.

The contract with Dong Energy follows a loan agreement signed by Welsh Water with European Investment Bank (EIB) for £250m.

With the loan, the company plans to invest on renewable energy generation programmes in the near future.

The loan is expected to enable Welsh Water, which has the highest credit rating in the UK’s utilities sector, to meet its £1.7bn investment programme between 2015-2020 to invest in its assets. 

Welsh Water Energy head Mike Pedley said: "Our contract with DONG Energy secures green energy for the next five years whilst also offering good value for Welsh Water. As a not-for-profit company, every pound we can save on energy helps us keep bills down for customers.

“We are also looking forward to exploring how we can best utilise DONG Energy's flexibility services to drive further value from our operations."