Ahold Delhaize signs a ten-year virtual power agreement in Romania

Ahold Delhaize said on November 5 that it has signed a ten-year virtual power purchase agreement tied to two Romanian projects being developed by Rezolv Energy.

The company will take approximately 14% of the output. Ahold Delhaize said it will contract approximately 14% of the farms' output and receive Guarantees of Origin for ten years, starting in 2029. It said both projects are expected to start commercial operation in 2029.

One wind farm and one solar farm are named. The onshore wind farm, Dunarea East, will be situated in Constanta County and is expected to produce 780 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year. The solar farm, to be named Dama, will be built in Arad County. Ahold Delhaize said its two million solar panels are expected to produce 1,800 gigawatt-hours a year, and that the farm is set out to become the largest onshore renewable energy project in the European Union.

The company linked the signing to a 2030 electricity match. It said the two farms' combined production will be enough to power 1.6 million households in the region. Based on projected consumption across its European brands, Ahold Delhaize said it will be able to fully match electricity consumption in its European operations with renewable electricity by 2030, five years ahead of an original target set at 2035. It said the agreement finalizes the current European power-purchase program.

Both companies described the agreement. Lenka Duskova, chief financial officer for Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia, said: "We are pleased to support the development of these wind and solar projects in Romania, which will add new renewable capacity to the grid while contributing to a more sustainable future for the communities we serve." Alastair Hammond, chief executive of Rezolv Energy, said: "This is one of the largest and most important corporate virtual Power Purchase Agreements ever signed in Southeastern Europe."

This is the fifth agreement in the current European program. Ahold Delhaize said the virtual agreement is its fifth and final power purchase agreement in Europe under that program, after a direct agreement in the Netherlands in 2023 and virtual agreements in Spain in 2024, Romania in 2025, and Finland in 2025. It said those agreements are part of a wider effort to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its own operations by 2040.