With the sun high in the sky, a cool wind at their back and a tasty cold beverage near their side, four companies are aiming to lead corporate renewable energy development and pricing strategy in the U.S. Each case is an example of social response leadership, or how firms are delivering on social need in parallel with shareholder value.
This week Shell and Luminant announced that they are teaming up to develop the world’s largest wind farm, a 3,000 megawatt generation site in the panhandle of Texas. At 3,000 MWs the Shell and Luminant development would be four times the current largest wind farm in the world, the 735-megawatt Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, which was completed by FPL Energy, Inc. in late 2006, and also in Texas. Luminant is a subsidiary of TXU, the prominent Texas utility that recently was acquired by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR).
Last week Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced that they had signed an agreement to purchase 553 MWs of power from Solel Solar Systems the Israeli parent company that has built its “patented and commercially-proven solar thermal parabolic trough technology” in the Mojave Dessert. An incredible amount of electricity, the PG&E purchase of 553 MWs of solar power is enough to power 400,000 homes in northern and central California.
Fong Wan, vice president of Energy Procurement, PG&E noted, “The solar thermal project announced today is another major milestone in realizing our goal to supply 20 percent of our customers’ energy needs with clean renewable energy…Through the agreement with Solel, we can harness the sun's climate-friendly power to provide our customers with reliable and cost-effective energy on an unprecedented scale.”
PG&E is among the cleanest energy providers in the U.S. In fact they currently supply 12 percent of their energy from qualified renewable energy sources, as defined under the California Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). PG&E says that more than 50 percent of the energy they deliver to their customers comes from sources that emit no CO2.
And in even sweeter deal making news, PepsiCo has retained the leader board as the #1 purchaser of green power in the U.S. with 1,105,045,154 kWh per year. PepsiCo tops the USEPA list of Green Power Purchasers which includes retail, finance, government and industrial giants like Wells Fargo, Whole Foods, US Air Force, Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks, IBM, HSBC, DuPont, Kohls Stores, Staples and The World Bank Group to name a few. What’s even more impressive is that in addition to PepsiCo, two of the firms’ largest manufacturing and bottling companies have recently joined the USEPA Top Green Purchasers list. Both the Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. and PepsiAmericas, Inc. have decided to purchase 100% of their electricity from renewable generation sources. Pepsi Bottling is rated #4 and PepsiAmericas is rated #13 on the USEPA Green Power list.
The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) is the world's largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages — some of the world's most recognized consumer brands. PBG became a publicly-traded company in March 1999 through one of the largest initial public offerings in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. PBG generates nearly $13 billion in annual sales. It operates in the United States, Canada, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Turkey, accounting for more than one-half of the Pepsi-Cola beverages sold in North America, and about 40 percent of the Pepsi-Cola system volume worldwide.
With $3.7 billion in revenue, PepsiAmericas is the second largest Pepsi-Coal anchor bottler with operations in 15 countries around the world. In total, the company serves a population of more than 122 million people.
Working with Sterling Planet the PepsiCo team of companies are offsetting 100% of their electric use (a whopping 1.72 billion kilowatt-hours) through the purchase of renewable energy credits. Founded in 2000, Sterling Planet has become the nation’s leading retail provider of renewable energy through direct sales and electric utility partnerships. Sterling Planet is also entering into new U.S. energy market spaces with Energy Efficiency Certificate also know as White Tags.
Social response product development is this Century’s New Renaissance, a rebirth of scientific discovery coupled with a sustainable industrial revolution and a new-age focus on how to address social need through knowledge of the past, vision for the future and adaptation of technology for greater ecologic, economic and equitable potential. Big firms like PepsiCo, Shell, Luminant and PG&E are beginning to advance this new renaissance through the power of alliance formation, partnership, purchasing agreements and by discovering that there is value in social response energy solutions, for their reputation, their customers and their shareholders. What we call “World Inc.” companies, these firms are using the power of their size and strength of their leadership to redefine energy production, distribution and use in this new century.
What other examples of social response product development and capitalism do you see transforming new markets like energy? Do market leaders like PG&E, Sterling Planet and PepsiCo have a shot at truly creating more sustainable supply chains, energy production and delivery or products? Let us know your thoughts on how you see corporations going green impacting the future of money and markets.
Mark C. Coleman
Senior Associate & World Inc. Case Leader, AHC Group, Inc.
Mark@ahcgroup.com
No comments:
Post a Comment