Sasol Chemicals Manufacturing Facility Operating on Green External Power

Sasol Chemicals, a business unit of Sasol Ltd. announced that its Brunsbüttel, Germany manufacturing facility is obtaining all of its external electricity from renewable sources.

“This is a significant step toward meeting Sasol Chemicals’ ambitious long-term sustainability objectives,” said Jens Straatmann, Senior Vice President, Eurasia Chemicals. "The Brunsbüttel facility is proof that we can obtain all external electricity for a major manufacturing site from green sources, and it can serve as a model for other facilities across the company.”

The recent move to full renewable external power was made possible by a power purchase agreement with MTB new energy, a German company that generates wind power at a site in the ChemCoast Park Brunsbüttel. This wind power adds to green energy already supplied by local power company Stadtwerke Brunsbüttel as well as origin-certified electricity from Norwegian hydropower.

This is the latest step in Brunsbüttel’s green transition. In 2014, the plant began receiving 80,000 tons of “green steam” annually from a local biomass cogeneration facility. It is also working with MTB and Stadtwerke Brunsbüttel to build a large-scale photovoltaic system on the site, generating up to 6 million kilowatts of solar power a year.

Sasol Chemicals has committed to a 30 percent reduction in its scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Using renewable energy to power its manufacturing facilities is a key lever in achieving this ambition, along with process improvements; investments in energy efficiency; and carbon capture, use and storage. These goals are part of parent company Sasol Ltd.’s commitment to net zero by 2050.

Sasol’s Brunsbüttel facility, its largest in Germany, is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Hamburg near the Kiel Canal and produces a broad range of organic and inorganic products. The site's organic products are used in a range of daily applications including detergents and cleaning agents, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, as well as in various technical applications. The site’s inorganic products are key components in catalysts, high-performance abrasives and polymer additives.