Cargill Takes Steps to Modernize Renewable Energy Infrastructure in Ghana

TEMA, Ghana, November 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Plant invests in innovative solar energy facility; contributes to sustainability goals 

Today marks the inauguration of Cargill's new solar power facility at its Cocoa & Chocolate site in Tema, Ghana. This energy project contributes to Cargill's global strategy of investing in environmentally friendly, renewable ways of generating power for industrial production. By investing in renewable energy, Cargill is living up to its responsibility to find ways to continuously decrease the environmental impact of its businesses.

Solar plant to boost renewable energy capacity 

The new solar plant, which opened its doors today during an event at the Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate site in Tema, is a fully automated, digital photovoltaic solar system. It augments energy needs at the site and boosts Ghana's renewable energy portfolio by producing 764MWh of electricity annually. The solar energy produced at the plant is equivalent to powering nearly 400 homes with electricity for a year.

Sustainable business goals 

The solar project consolidates Cargill's continued support towards a sustainable cocoa business in Ghana. Pieter Reichert, managing director of Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate in Ghana, said, "Cargill sets ambitious targets every five years to reduce greenhouse gas intensity, improve energy efficiency and increase renewables as a part of our portfolio. One of those targets is to increase renewables to 18 percent of our global energy portfolio by 2020. Today, 14 percent of our energy needs are met by renewables, and this solar project will help us realize our 2020 goal".

Continued progress in Tema 

The solar facility is just one of the innovative and technological solutions Cargill has implemented at the Tema site to improve its environmental footprint. Other recent projects include the installation of LED lighting, an energy-efficient grinding facility and a biomass boiler. Collectively, all four projects at the Tema sites have resulted in a 32 percent decrease in energy consumption, a 71 percent reduction of CO2 emissions and 66 percent renewable energy generation.

Collaboration with Ghanaian government  

Thanks to close collaboration with the Ghanaian authorities, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who commissioned the facility, the plant allows Cargill to support Ghana's commitment to strengthening industrial production in the cocoa sector through a sustainable and energy-efficient investment. Guest of honor at the inauguration event, Minister for Energy, Hon. Boakye Agyarko Kyeremanteng, spoke at the ceremony, "The government is committed to increasing the nation's renewable energy generation capacity and is hopeful that others in the Ghanaian cocoa industry will follow Cargill's lead."

About the installation 

The contractor of the project, Dutch & Co.(Gh.) Ltd, a company that specializes in energy efficiency through LED lighting and PV Solar installations, divided the installation capacity over an open field ground mount system of 413KWp and a Car Port system of 152KWp. In total, 2,136 solar panels were used, each with a capacity of 265Wp. To install the ground mount structure, a specialized Pile Driver provided the supporting structure for the panels, a technique most often used often for large-scale solar installations.The installation's peak power generation period is between 11am and 3pm, during which period 15 percent of Tema's electricity needs will be supplied by the solar panels.

About Cargill 

Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 155,000 employees in 70 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work. For more information, visit Cargill.com, Cargill.co.uk and our News Center.

About Cargill in Ghana 

Cargill has been sourcing cocoa from Ghana for over 40 years and in 2008, opened its US$100million state-of-the-art cocoa processing facility in Tema. Today, the company has over 600 permanent and contracted employees buying cocoa and processing Gerkens® cocoa products to service food and confectionary customers locally and around the world.

In April 2017, Cargill launched its Licensed Buying Company (LBC), the Cargill Kokoo Sourcing Limited. This unique sourcing model which focuses on full traceability of each cocoa bean is e-money enabled and has over 25,000 farmers registered of which over 11,000 are actively pursuing selling and/or delivering beans through the network. So far over 10,000 cocoa farmers have received a total of GH2million as premium certification payment under the LBC.