The Kraft Heinz Company has entered award negotiations to secure funding of up to $170 million from the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). This funding would bolster clean energy initiatives across ten of the conglomerate’s facilities within the U.S., targeting a broad spectrum of food production operations. The infusion of funds is earmarked for the “The Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage” project, poised to drastically cut annual emissions by over 99% from 2022 figures, propelling the company towards its net-zero goals.
Kraft Heinz plans to allocate this substantial investment toward technological advancements across its selected sites. These enhancements include deploying heat pumps, electric heaters, boilers, anaerobic digesters, biogas boilers, and solar solutions alongside thermal energy storage systems. This project would invest in sustainability and is anticipated to generate approximately 500 construction jobs, significantly boosting local employment and upskilling opportunities.
Helen Davis, the Senior Vice President and Head of North America Operations, highlighted the project’s potential to serve as a blueprint for broader application, saying, “The infrastructure changes made at these ten plants will allow us to replicate successful technologies and processes across our remaining U.S. plants and globally, making us more efficient as we continue to make upgrades to more locations. I’m proud of the impact this project and award will have on our facilities, but also on our current and future workforce and the communities that surround our operations.”
Kraft Heinz has partnered with ENGIE for strategic consulting and support in its quest for decarbonization, showcasing a collaborative approach to achieving its environmental objectives. In its collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, Kraft Heinz has become a participant in the Better Climate Challenge and Renewable Thermal Collaborative. This involvement facilitates cross-industry dialogues and the dissemination of scalable models designed to expedite the process of decarbonization.
