In the United States (US), global confectionary- and foodstuffs major The Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz) has announced that it has been selected for award negotiations to receive up to US$170 million from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstration (OCED) to support the implementation of clean energy projects at ten of the company’s US plants.
These plants produce various food products, and these new projects’ technologies can be replicated across a wide range of food and beverage manufacturers.
This investment will fund part of “The Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage” project, helping these locations reduce annual emissions by more than 99 percent from 2022 levels – a significant step forward in the company’s global net-zero ambitions.
At Kraft Heinz, we’re on a journey to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This investment will give us critical resources to make necessary improvements in our plants to help increase their energy efficiency and reduce emissions. This investment recognizes our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, and we’re eager to get started, said Marcos Eloi Lima, Chief Procurement and Sustainability Officer at Kraft Heinz.
Deploy a wide range of technologies
Kraft Heinz will use the funds to install a range of technologies, including heat pumps, electric heaters, electric boilers, anaerobic digestors, biogas boilers, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and thermal energy storage.
The company anticipates the project will create an estimated 500 construction jobs across the 10 plant sites, providing opportunities for employees to receive additional training and develop new skills related to the new technologies.
The infrastructure changes made at these 10 plants will allow us to replicate successful technologies and processes across our remaining US plants and globally, making us more efficient as we continue to make upgrades to more locations. I’m proud of the impact this project and award will have on our facilities but also on our current and future workforce and the communities that surround our operations, said Helen Davis, SVP and Head of North America Operations at Kraft Heinz.
The 10 sites include Champaign, Illinois (IL); Columbia, Missouri (MO); Fremont, Ohio (OH); Holland, Michigan (MI); Kendallville, Indiana (IN); Lowville, New York (NY); Mason City and Muscatine, Iowa (IA); New Ulm, Minnesota (MN); and Winchester, Virginia (VA).
The project will significantly benefit these 10 plants by 2030, as estimated below (compared to 2022 levels):
- Overall energy use after the implementation of energy efficiency measures, electrification, and onsite generation will decline by 23 percent (from 1,043 GWh/y to 801 GWh/year).
- Natural gas use will decline by 97 percent, with the remaining 3 percent being used for standby equipment.
- Total water use will be reduced by 3 percent.
To develop the application, Kraft Heinz engaged ENGIE Impact, a company that provides strategic consulting, global reporting, and implementation support to corporations, governmental organizations, and municipalities on their net-zero journeys.
As part of the Company’s ongoing work with the Department of Energy, Kraft Heinz joined its Better Climate Challenge and Renewable Thermal Collaborative to work across industries to exchange ideas and share repeatable models that can help accelerate decarbonization.
