As a manufacturer of specialty paper, Koehler Group is involved in an energy‐intensive industry and is keenly aware of its responsibility towards the environment and the cli‐ mate. With this in mind, the company has been investing in renewable energy generation for over twenty years, setting up a second division of the business, Koehler Renewable Energy, over a decade ago to focus on this area. With the “2030 Koehler Promise”, Koehler Group sets itself the goal of generating more en‐ ergy from renewable sources with its own facilitiesthan it consumes producing paper by 2030 at the latest.
Sustainable Energy Generation: Koehler Group Focuses on the Production of Renewable Energy
In its current sustainability report, Koehler Group provides detailed information for the first time about its sustainability strategy and the many areas in which it is taking action. “As a family business, our focus is not on quarterly results, but rather on the long term and the generations to come. This means that we do not view sustainability as a trend, but rather as a necessity for oursociety’slong‐term survival.” says Koeh‐ ler Group CEO Kai Furler, who realized early on that investing in renewable energy was a key issue for the future.
In 2022, the Koehler Group was already able to generate 69.9% of the energy required for its paper pro‐ duction from renewable sources on a balance sheet basis. With a view to increasing this share, Koehler has made building its own power generation facilities part of its sustainability strategy. Several wind farms are currently being constructed, which will also be operated by Koehler after commissioning. After over 10 years of planning and project planning, the company’s first two wind turbines in Germany, with a com‐ bined output of 8.4 MW, were completed in February 2024 in the Wetzlar‐Blasbach wind farm in Middle Hesse.
Power Purchase Agreement for Wetzlar Wind Farm
In order to use these two wind turbines directly for paper production, the Koehler Group decided to sign a PPA, or Power Purchase Agreement. PPAs are becoming increasingly important in Germany as a tool for expanding the use of renewable energy, for example for funding wind turbines and supplying industrial clients with green energy in the long term. “Energy is one of the most important tools for business success these days,” underlines Cornelius Schul‐ thess, Corporate Director Energy Supply Management at Koehler Renewable Energy and energy industry expert. He goes on to explain: “Companies have various options for improving their carbon footprint,starting from energy efficiency projects through to generating their own renewable energy and associated PPAs. This enables us as a company to gain further independence from the prices on the energy market.” For Koehler, practically speaking, this means that the energy produced in the Wetzlar wind farm is fed into the grid via a service provider and can be directly purchased by the Koehler Group’s German production sites.
Pioneering: More Wind Turbines In the Works
At the start of 2023, after almost five years of planning, approval was granted for a wind farm with five turbines north of Waldeck in North Hesse. The wind farm is due to be commissioned in 2025 and is ex‐ pected to generate around 70,000 MWh of electricity per year. The same applies for another wind farm with two turbines in Lich in Middle Hesse that is expected to generate around 28,000 MWh of electricity per year. There is also a pipeline of projects with over 100 MW of installed capacity, which are in various early phases of project planning. Above all, Koehler Group would also like to invest in wind turbines in the immediate vicinity of its sites in Baden‐Württemberg.
Koehler Renewable Energy is also planning further wind farms in Scotland. An approval application for the wind farm project in Rowancraig, near Sanquhar, was submitted in January. The plan is to implement up to six turbines in the wind farm, with an output of 4–6 MW per turbine, which equates to a maximum output of up to 36 MW.
TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/