Businesses signing up for fixed contracts with SSE in Great Britain will now receive all their electricity from renewable sources that SSE operates. This announcement comes as the group makes it easier for its customers to hit their climate change targets by bringing together its services under a single SSE Energy Solutions brand.
SSE, which is the biggest generator of renewable electricity in the UK and Ireland, previously offered 100% renewable electricity as an optional extra to business customers. Under the SSE Energy Solutions brand, all new fixed electricity contracts will now include 100% renewable electricity as standard.
All the electricity will be generated for its business customers by the group’s SSE Renewables arm, which operates offshore wind farms including Beatrice and Greater Gabbard, onshore wind farms such as Clyde and Keadby, and hydro-electric stations like Glendoe and Tummel Valley. The electricity’s green credentials are independently verified by EcoAct, an Atos company, and customers are provided with Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) certification.
SSE is investing £7.5 billion in the green transition by 2025 to help businesses and organisations in the UK tackle the climate emergency and meet their carbon dioxide reduction targets. It has 8GW of new offshore wind, onshore wind and hydro plants in the pipeline – enough electricity to power 1.5 million businesses per year.
Nikki Flanders, Managing Director of SSE’s customer business, said: “We’re hearing loud and clear from our customers that they want to go green and so we’ve made the move to power all new fixed contracts with 100% renewable electricity from our UK wind farms and hydro plants.
“We see it as our job to make traceable green energy accessible to all organisations across the UK, including the 5.6 million small and medium sized businesses. For the UK to meet its net zero targets, it’s important all businesses are able to adopt traceable renewable energy and this move makes it easy for them to do so”, continued Nikki Flanders.
News of the green energy initiative comes as the group brings together its Business Energy and Distributed Energy arms in the UK under a single SSE Energy Solutions brand.
The united brand will allow the company to market its services as a one-stop-shop for businesses and public sector bodies that want to meet their green commitments and wider corporate social responsibility targets.
As well as supplying 100% renewable electricity, SSE Energy Solutions will also help businesses and local authorities ensure their existing or new essential energy infrastructure is as efficient and resilient as possible. This includes installing the electric vehicle (EV) hardware and service provision for fleets, buses and public hubs that’s essential to enable the planned phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles. Adopting a whole systems approach, SSE Energy Solutions invests in, builds, and uses innovative digital tools to connect localised flexible energy infrastructure to drive long-term performance of energy assets, including opening up revenue generation opportunities for clients.
Nikki Flanders added “Now, under our SSE Energy Solutions brand, we’re also helping those customers go further by harnessing technology to get the most from their green energy, whether it’s through EV charging points or smart systems to manage their energy use.
“SSE is proud to be a principal partner for November’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow and our green energy initiatives and single SSE Energy Solutions brand are just two examples of how we’re putting our words into action to make it easier for companies to hit their environmental goals.”
The green electricity fixed contracts and the SSE Energy Solutions brand – with its new website at sseenergysolutions.co.uk – has now launched.
