The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration recently awarded the Kraft Heinz Co. with up to $170 million to support the implementation of clean energy projects at 10 plants in nine states.
Funding will be applied to the company’s the Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage project. The project’s goal is to reduce annual emissions at the 10 plants by more than 99 percent from 2022’s levels.
The company will use the funding to install various technologies including anaerobic digestors, biogas boilers, electric heaters, electric boilers, heat pumps, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and thermal energy storage.
“At Kraft Heinz, we’re on a journey to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Marcos Eloi Lima, Kraft Heinz chief procurement and sustainability officer, said. “This investment will give us critical resources to make necessary improvements in our plants to help increase their energy efficiency and reduce emissions. This investment recognizes our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, and we’re eager to get started.”
Kraft Heinz estimates that, by 2030, water usage will be reduced 3 percent, natural gas usage 97 percent, and overall energy usage 23 percent.
This will be achieved through the implementation of energy efficiency measures, electrification and onsite generation