HORSHAM, PA — Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) was named a recipient of a US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 Green Power Leadership Award for outstanding clean energy initiatives and its impact on the green power market. The EPA’s annual awards have commended leading green-power users in the US for their commitment to advancing the country’s green power market and using renewable energy.
Currently, BBU uses more than 490 million kWh of green power energy annually, the equivalent of 46,000 average American homes, according to the EPA. In using green power, the company is taking steps to combat climate change and a realize a more sustainable energy future.
“We are proud to be recognized by the EPA for our efforts to help realize a clean energy future,” said Christopher Wolfe, BBU’s senior director of environmental sustainability. “As a leader in the food and beverage industry, it is essential for us to set the example for other organizations and prove that using green power is possible.”
BBU ranks no. 35 on the EPA’s Top 100 Partners list, has earned ENERGY STAR certification at 20 of its North American facilities this year and, for the past five years, has been recognized as an EPE ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year with Sustained Excellence.
The majority of BBU’s renewable power is obtained through a virtual power purchase agreement with Invenergy, a privately held owner, developer and operator of sustainable energy solutions. Their agreement provides 100 megawatts of wind energy generated from Texas wind farm Santa Rita East Wind Energy Center. Energy used from the farm offsets about 260,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
BBU has also procured Renewable Energy Credits, which, when combined with the energy from Santa Rita, offsets 100% of the electrical energy the company uses in its operations. To expand its renewable portfolio, the company has also signed with GreenStruxure, a part of Schneider Electric, to implement onsite microgrids at six California bakeries. With this investment, the system’s performance is set to include zero carbon energy, peak demand management and optimized use of grid energy.
