Press release January 18, 2023
Green power for Erfurt
Iqony supplies wallpaper manufacturer Erfurt & Sohn with green power from January 2023
Wuppertal/Essen. Iqony will supply the Wuppertal-based Erfurt Group with green electricity from the beginning of the year. The newly launched Essen-based energy company, which combines the regenerative growth business of the newly positioned STEAG group, and wallpaper manufacturer Erfurt, the inventor of woodchip wallpaper, have agreed on a multi-year electricity supply contract, a socalled Green Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
Iqony, as an experienced energy trader with its own generation portfolio amounting to several gigawatts of capacity, guarantees its contractual partner Erfurt & Sohn KG a supply of green electricity, irrespective of the actual production. “To this end, Iqony makes use of new PPA offers on the market or utilizes the capacities available within the Group from its photovoltaic subsidiary Iqony Solar Energy Solutions (SENS) to supply green electricity, as in the present case to the longestablished and well-known paper mill in Wuppertal,” explains Sebastian Holzer, who has been preparing the cooperationwith the Erfurt Group for Iqony over the past few months.
The agreement now concluded follows on from an existing cooperation between the partners. Saarbrücken-based Iqony Energies GmbH, the former STEAG New Energies GmbH, operates the Erfurt Group's own generation plants under a contracting agreement. In the process, Erfurt and Iqony have already taken the first important steps on the jointly envisaged decarbonisation path through optimisations such as a fuel switch.
Bringing supply and demand together
The contracts between Iqony and its energy customers are negotiated separately with operators and customers by Iqony’s trading division. However, since the availability of electricity from renewable sources is subject to weather-related fluctuations, unlike electricity fromconventional generation, Iqony’s role is not limited to buying and reselling green power. Because if the sun doesn’t shine or the wind dies down, the Essen-based energy specialist will ensure there is a green replacement.
Iqony therefore plays the role of a broker: “We buy fluctuating generation capacity from solar plants This comprehensive service package offers many advantages to both operators of renewable generation plants and buyers of renewable energy: “As a rule, it makes no sense for either sellers or buyers to take care of energy trading themselves. This is because the marketing or purchase of energy from renewables in particular, due to their volatility and the hedging transactions that are therefore necessary, are highly complex transactions that require experience and the ability to take action around the clock. Many companies can’t do that, and that’s where we come in,” says Jens Rupocinski, who co-heads Iqony’s trading division back office.
Iqony provides service from under one roof
Dieses umfassende Leistungspaket bietet sowohl den Betreibern von regenerativen Erzeugungsanlagen als auch den Abnehmern der erneuerbaren Energie viele Vorteile: „Weder für Verkäufer noch für Käufer ist es in der Regel sinnvoll, sich um den Energiehandel selbst zu kümmern. Denn gerade bei der Vermarktung oder dem Einkauf erneuerbarer Energien handelt es sich wegen deren Unbeständigkeit und der deshalb nötig werdenden Absicherungsgeschäfte um hochkomplexe Transaktionen, für die es Erfahrung und Handlungsfähigkeit buchstäblich rund um die Uhr benötigt. Das können viele Unternehmen nicht leisten und hier kommen wir ins Spiel“, sagt Jens Rupocinski, der als Co-Leiter des Handelsbereichs von Iqony das Middle- und Back Office leitet.
Benefits for the customer
For the customer, this comprehensive service makes the process much easier: “Paper manufacture is an energy-intensive business. We are therefore dependent on cost-effective and reliable supplies. That’s exactly what we get from Iqony – including the guarantee that we will be supplied with renewables-based energy even when the weather is not ideal,” says Dr. Holger Tristram, General Managerat Erfurt & Sohn KG.
This is particularly important from a competitive point of view, Holger Tristram continues: “If we want to remain competitive in the long term, we have to decarbonize. In view of the high energy intensity of our industry, this can be achieved not only through our own further development but also through energy procurement. However, because the matter is very complexand can definitelyinvolve a high level of control, we are glad to have found a partner in Iqony that is as experienced as it is reliable.”
At its sites in Wuppertal, the Erfurt Group is pursuing a holistic strategy in decarbonizing its business, with the aim of reducing the Erfurt Group’s CO2emissions by at least 4.2 percent per year by 2030. With this, the Erfurt Group is following the1.5 degree target set out in the Paris Climate Agreement,” says Director Felicitas Erfurt-Gordon. The addition of green electricity to the procurement portfolio is an important building block in this regard.
Partners agree confidentiality
For competitive reasons, the partners have agreed not to disclose details of the supply agreement.
