The growth of green energy strategies

Our CEO Henrik Poulsen commented last year: “2017 will be remembered as the year when offshore wind became cheaper than black energy.” It tracks an important milestone in the UK’s transformation to a low-carbon economy. 2017 was a turbulent year in some respects. Nevertheless, strong progress was made towards the UK’s 2050 carbon target and commitment to a better energy future. 21st April saw the first zero-coal day since the Industrial Revolution. In addition, BEIS’ September Energy Trends report showed renewable generation capacity in the second quarter of the year up by 4.4GW when compared with the same period the previous year. 

Add to that the growing number of companies pledging their commitment to the RE100 collaborative, whereby they commit to sourcing 100% of their global electricity needs from renewable electricity by a specified year, and it’s clear that a movement to a cleaner energy future is very much a shared ambition.

Making the commercials stack up

When the Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemption was removed from renewables, the UK experienced a sharp decline in businesses opting for green energy. In a world where organisational budgets are permanently under the spotlight, it’s unsurprising that selecting a more expensive option is a difficult case to make. 

In response, in April 2016, we took the decision to invest to cover the costs of 'going green', enabling businesses to make sustainable choices without commercial disadvantage. Our ambitions are clear: to create a world that runs entirely on green energy. 

RE100 provides the proof that companies as diverse as BMW Group, British Land, Facebook and Heathrow Airport are experiencing a range of benefits from opting for renewable electricity, including increased competitiveness and speedier delivery on emissions goals. Ørsted can supply electricity that comes from 100% offshore wind; our customers can report zero CO2 emissions under the World Resources Institute (WRI) greenhouse gas Protocol Scope 2 market based reporting.

Purchasing renewable electricity is only one part of the puzzle. BEIS’ Energy Trends report also revealed that consumption has fallen year-on-year, by 6.5% in the service sector and 1% among industrial firms, demonstrating a further focus amongst businesses on identifying opportunities for savings and positively impacting the bottom line.

Manipulating the times at which businesses consume electricity to avoid peak periods enables businesses to keep a lid on costs and for those that can turn up or down quickly to support electricity system balance, for instance as part of a DSR scheme, there are new revenues to be earned. As more renewable generation is introduced to the energy system, it’s ever more vital to have the support of businesses to help plug gaps in supply and demand to keep the system balanced. As well as the financial rewards, businesses are making a key contribution to the sustainability of our energy sector.

Planning for the future

Increasingly, progressive organisations are looking for ways to operate responsibly and sustainably, turning this position into commercial advantage. This may come in the form of the opening doors to new tender opportunities, boosting supply chain benefit or enhancing reputation amongst an existing and prospective customer base. By developing a holistic energy strategy that includes energy reduction initiatives, flexible consumption and DSR, businesses stand to make smart financial choices, whilst also placing sustainability at the heart of their operations.

It pays to identify a supplier whose longer-term strategy and ethos matches an organisation’s own plans. We believe the best way forward is to embrace a clean energy future and we want to work with businesses to achieve that vision. It’s why we divested our upstream oil and gas business and continue to invest heavily in wind power technology. We’ve changed our name to better reflect our business, as we’ve become too green for the name DONG (Danish Oil and Natural Gas). In November 2017, we became Ørsted, after H. C. Ørsted, a Danish scientist who discovered electromagnetism.