NEW SOLAR POWER PLANT TO POWER BESTSELLER

BESTSELLER and its parent company HEARTLAND have partnered with energy company Better Energy to build its own solar power plant, thus taking an initial step towards its ultimate ambition of becoming climate positive.

The solar power plant is expected to have a capacity of over 125 megawatts (MW) and BESTSELLER anticipates this will produce the equivalent of its entire global energy consumption for owned and operated buildings.

The new solar power plant, which will be privately funded with no subsidies, has been made possible by HEARTLAND and Invest FWD, BESTSELLER’s new investment platform focusing on sustainability. With this project, BESTSELLER will achieve one of the goals set out in its sustainability strategy, Fashion FWD, launched last year. 

“We wanted to have a direct impact on the deployment of new renewable energy, which will both help us achieve our ambitions at BESTSELLER but also make a positive impact on the world around us,” says BESTSELLER’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Dorthe Scherling Nielsen.

Better Energy is an obvious fit for the project as the company focuses on ‘additionality’ – the idea that new renewable energy capacity is built and added to the grid.

Better Energy and HEARTLAND will build the new solar power plant and will sell the energy to BESTSELLER through a power purchase agreement (PPA). PPAs are becoming increasingly popular with companies aspiring to a sustainable future.

PPAs allow energy buyers to buy green energy over a number of years, while energy producers can attract stable investment to fund the construction of renewable energy projects.

Rasmus Lildholdt Kjær, CEO of Better Energy says: “BESTSELLER is part of a new global wave of companies that are playing a major role in the development of a clean energy economy. By helping build a new solar park, HEARTLAND and BESTSELLER are both securing access to green energy, while also adding renewable energy to the grid. That is additionality and impact that matters.”

Ultimate ambition

In connection with the Fashion FWD sustainability strategy BESTSELLLER articulated an ultimate ambition – known as the North Star, which commits it to bringing Fashion FWD until we are climate positive, fair for all and circular by design. Read more about BESTSELLER’s sustainability ambitions here.