FrieslandCampina continues drive towards solar energy

Half of the electricity requirements of FrieslandCampina’s production locations and offices in the Netherlands now come from solar power, thanks to a growth of the company’s solar initiative.

The number of dairy farmers that will receive solar panels in the coming period through the FrieslandCampina solar programme has more than doubled compared to last year.

In total, the number of participants in the FrieslandCampina solar programme has reached 772 dairy farms.

Dutch company GroenLeven installs and manages the solar panels and through the deal and FrieslandCampina farmers are offered to the chance to hire out their shed roofs to install the panels.

GroenLeven wants to have finished 50 roofs by the end of 2018, and then speed up to install solar panels on 20 roofs per week.

FrieslandCampina said that in addition to the 772 dairy farms participating in the solar programme, in recent years over 2,200 of its members have already installed solar panels on their own initiative.

It added that recent research from students at the University of Amsterdam has shown that the solar power that can be generated on the roofs of FrieslandCampina members can provide 12{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of the total Dutch domestic electricity needs.

Earlier this year, Hein Schumacher, CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina, said: “The ambition of FrieslandCampina is to fully cover the use of electricity within the chain with green electricity generated at the farm yards.”

He added:”We are making investments now in order to be able to work circularly in the future. This is perfectly in line with our objective to reward our member dairy farmers for their commitment to sustainability.”