Saint-Gobain signs major renewable energy supply agreement in North America

Saint-Gobain, a France-based construction materials provider, has signed a 15-year renewable electricity supply agreement with TotalEnergies, also based in France, for the purchase of solar power for its 125 industrial sites in North America.

This 100-megawatt (MW) purchase agreement, known as the Danish Fields Solar Project, is expected to offset Saint-Gobain’s North American carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity (Scope 2 emissions) by 90,000 metric tons per year. The project is expected to come online by the end of 2024.

Danish Fields is the third purchase agreement signed in North America by Saint-Gobain. The first agreement, which was with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in Illinois, was signed in 2020, and the second—with TotalEnergies’ Cottonwood Bayou Solar Project in Texas—was signed in 2022.

All three projects have been supported by Edison Energy, a leading energy and sustainability advisory that consults with commercial, industrial and institutional energy users.

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“With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO2 emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 33 percent by 2030—compared to 2017—and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050,” says Mark Rayfield, CEO of Saint-Gobain North America.

This project follows several recent actions taken by Saint-Gobain to solidify its commitment to sustainability, including:

• the company’s circular economy initiative launched last month in its ceramics business, where scrap finished goods from its Bryan, Texas, facility are sent to other Saint-Gobain ceramics plants to be reused in production;
• being awarded a 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability award in June for its work to create the first “net zero carbon” gypsum wallboard for Scope 1 and 2 emissions in North America and at its plant outside Montreal, Quebec;
• CertainTeed Canada, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, surpassing one million tonnes (1,102,311.31 tons) of gypsum recycled and returned to production at its Vancouver plant; and
• CertainTeed Roofing acquiring the rights to technology from recycling partner Asphaltica in February, which will allow the company to recycle asphalt shingle waste.