Credit: Kevin Berry, RWE UK
Co-op has today [1 October 2025] announced that it is to enter a seven-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to utilise energy generated from a wind farm located off the coast of North Wales.
The consumer co-operative is working in partnership with RWE – the UK’s leading electricity producer and a global leader in renewable energy – to increase the amount of renewable energy it procures to support national energy security and accelerate its path towards decarbonisation.
Under this new agreement, Co-op will source electricity produced from the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm to help power its estate, including food stores, distribution centres and funeralcare homes across the UK.
RWE will supply Co-op with a total volume of 33 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean electricity annually – which is enough to power the equivalent of around 140 Co-op food stores a year, equal to 12,200 homes.
Heather Thomas, Group Property & Sustainability Director at Co-op, said: “At Co-op we’re delighted to announce this further Power Purchase Agreement signing, as we continue to strengthen our energy purchasing strategy by making impactful changes across our business.
“For the sake of people and planet, it’s vital that collectively we tackle the climate crisis. The energy transition is central to energy security and therefore national security too.
“That’s why we believe that every business should be playing its part to help green the grid, be that by reducing their energy demand or indeed by ensuring that renewable electricity generation forms an integral part of their energy procurement decisions.”
Olaf Lubenow, head of commodity Ssolutions UK, North & South Europe at RWE Supply & Trading, said: “This contract will help Co-op to meet an increasing proportion of its energy needs from renewable sources. We are seeing continued growth in interest in sustainable energy solutions in the UK retail sector.”
The Gwynt y Môr wind farm is located in the Irish Sea, off the coast of North Wales. Operated by RWE, it is Wales’s largest offshore wind farm and comprises 160 turbines with a capacity of 576 megawatts. The wind farm is owned by a consortium of RWE, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Macquarie GIG.
Co-op has been campaigning for Climate Justice since 2021 and recently published research with Green Alliance on the role of businesses as energy consumers in the energy transition.
This news of Co-op’s latest PPA follows on from:
- The completion of a landmark solar panel project at Co-op’s largest depot in Biggleswade
- The roll out of plans to install solar panels on up to 700 sites across its food, funeralcare and logistic portfolio over the next three years
- The launch of a new solar farm in Cambridgeshire – made possible by Co-op’s signing of a PPA in 2024
- An agreement in 2023 to take the entire output of a new 34-megawatt solar farm, located in North Yorkshire, which is set to be fully operational next year.
Additionally, earlier this year, the consumer co-operative re-entered the commercial energy market with its Co-op Power proposition. Co-op Power utilises Co-op’s longstanding market knowledge to help businesses of all sizes with their clean energy buying requirements.
Imran Rasul, chief procurement officer at Co-op, said: “We’re leveraging Co-op’s expertise as a major energy user in our own right to aid businesses with their own energy procurement strategies to find better ways of sourcing, buying and managing energy. We have a wealth of knowledge in this sector and are committed to sharing our insights to help businesses save money and source energy in a sustainable and ethical way.”
Co-op has committed to reaching net zero across its operations by 2035 and entire business by 2040. In March 2024, Co-op became one of the first UK convenience retailer to have its net zero targets validated by the globally-recognised Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In its updated Climate Action Plan, Co-op further committed to sourcing renewable energy via corporate PPAs and investing in supporting suppliers and producers to reduce absolute carbon emissions.
