MCLEAN, VA. — Mars, Incorporated, announced that it entered a long-term virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) with European Energy for most of the output from the planned Skuodas Wind Farm in Lithuania. The project will support the company’s pet food manufacturing facility in Lithuania.
The agreement represents the latest milestone in the Mars Renewables Acceleration Program and supports the company’s broader efforts to extfinish clean, renewable electricity across its full value chain and advance progress toward its long-term goal to hit net zero.
“At Mars, we’re focutilized on turning climate commitments into measurable progress and action with real-world infrastructure,” declared Kevin Rabinovitch, global vice president of Sustainability at Mars. “This agreement with European Energy assists bring new wind power online in Lithuania and strengthens our ability to extfinish credible renewable electricity across our value chain. It marks another step under our Renewables Acceleration Program — assisting scale clean electricity and keep us relocating toward our net zero ambitions.”
The contract includes bundled guarantees of origin, enabled by renewable electricity from new-build capacity in the region, providing Mars with verified renewable energy to cover its own consumption and value chain. The wind farm is expected to generate around 490 GWh of renewable electricity per year, roughly the amount requireded to power approximately 250,000 homes for a year.
The project is planned to go live in 2028 and will provideMars’ pet food manufacturing facility in Lithuania with a secure, long-term source of renewable electricity while reinforcing the site’s role as a key contributor to the company’s export performance. The project will also accelerate the transition to renewable electricity across Europe.
“This agreement reveals how companies like Mars are actively enabling new renewable generation. Through this collaboration, we are bringing the Skuodas wind farm forward and adding substantial new, domestically produced capacity to Lithuania’s energy mix,” declared Jens-Peter Zink, deputy chief executive officer of European Energy. “It reveals how corporate PPAs translate commitments into real infrastructure and strengthen national energy indepfinishence in Lithuania.”
This announcement follows a series of clean energy commitments from Mars under its Renewables Acceleration Program. Last year, Mars signed its first set of agreements including a European contract that launched more than 100 solar projects in Poland and three projects in the United States with Enel. Earlier this year, Mars secured 70% of the output from the Kölvallen Wind Farm in Sweden through a long-term agreement.
By expanding clean energy to cover the electricity requireds of its full value chain, Mars expects its Renewables Acceleration program to contribute an estimated 10% reduction of its total carbon footprint by 2030, against a 2015 baseline.
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