Germany-based energy giant Uniper has concluded a power purchase agreement with Deutsche Bahn to expand the national railway’s green power portfolio.

The five-year, cross-border agreement will see Uniper supply 88GWh of Swedish hydropower to the railway operator, beginning in 2028.

The company will supply this power from four run-of-river hydropower plants (Borgforsen, Bodum, Fjällsjö, Sil) at Fjällsjöälven.

Carsten Poppinga, CCO of Uniper, commented in a statement: “Demand for green power is rising. As a result of the energy transition, we are not only decarbonising our own power generation, but are also making more green power available to our customers today, so that they can meet their own climate targets.

“Renewable energy – such as the Group’s own hydropower – is one of the most important components of the energy transition. We are delighted that our PPA is helping to accelerate the decarbonisation of Deutsche Bahn because it is only by working together that we can effectively achieve the energy transition.”

Deutsche Bahn is one of the biggest power users in Germany. This agreement will not only help with cost forecasting in a volatile energy market but will also bring the company closer to its decarbonisation targets, specifically being climate-neutral by 2040.

Uniper also intends to be carbon-neutral by 2040 and is working to ensure its installed power generating capacity is more than 80% zero-carbon by 2030.

This article was originally published on Power Engineering International