Decarbonizing the grid supply chain, step-by-step

Emissions from the supply chain are one of the hardest areas to decarbonize. It isn’t just about the energy needed to make the products themselves, but all the various components that go into them. Reaching net zero means we need to decarbonize everything from source. We all have a responsibility to make this happen. Today, 西门子能源 goes a step further in decarbonization with our groundbreaking agreement with transmission system operator TenneT , to drive forward the sustainable production of technical components for grid expansion.

The IEA say reaching national emission goals will require adding or modernizing more than 80 million kilometers of grids by 2040 – as much as the entire existing global grid today. This will require hundreds of thousands of transformers – so we also need to take steps to reduce the emissions of the materials contained in those products – for example steel and copper.

Across the whole of Siemens Energy, we use around 0.2 per cent of the total copper production each year. Reducing Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions associated with raw materials like copper windings inside power transformers have an impact on a product’s overall carbon footprint.

Both TenneT and Siemens Energy have targets to reduce supply chain emissions by 30%. To do this we’re expanding our product portfolio to use recycled copper in our transformers for TenneT.

What does this mean? A first milestone in the partnership is the production of transformers made with 100% recycled copper. And, from now on, all future transformers we produce for TenneT will contain green copper – by 2030 around 52 transformers with 72 tons of recycled copper will have been delivered to TenneT, saving around 6,500 tons of CO2. ?

But we don’t want to stop there. Together, we want to further develop solutions which will reduce CO2 emission and protect the environment, such as circularity models. We often say we can’t do it alone and this collaboration is an example of how working together, companies can tackle major challenges.

We face a race against time to tackle climate change. The efforts we take to expand the grid must go hand in hand with action to decarbonize it too. Only together can we achieve our climate and sustainability goals. This partnership and continued commitment to sustainability is an important step in the right direction.