A song of ice and fire: Octopus Energy strikes solar supply deal with Iceland Foods

• Octopus signs Power Purchase Agreement with major UK food retailer
• UK solar farm to reduce Iceland Foods’ emissions by 23k tonnes of CO2 a year
• Comes as Octopus’ generation arm manages nearly £6bn in renewables sites

London, Friday 3rd March 2023 - Octopus Energy’s generation arm has inked a new partnership with Iceland Foods, the UK’s leading frozen food retailer.

The 10-year deal will see green power supplied to Iceland from the Breach solar farm in Cambridgeshire, which Octopus manages on behalf of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT).

The solar farm will provide c.64 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy every year to power 150 sites, which will cover 14% of Iceland Foods’ electricity needs for its UK stores.

Iceland has nearly 1,000 stores in the UK. This deal with Octopus will reduce Iceland Foods’ emissions by 23,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of removing over 12,000 petrol cars from the roads, or planting over 110,000 trees every year.

Octopus Energy Generation acquired the c.67 MW Breach solar farm in June 2022 on behalf of ORIT. The solar farm construction began in November 2022 and is scheduled to become operational in Q4 2023.

Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation said: “It’s great to see such a massive British firm like Iceland Foods accelerate its renewable energy journey, freezing its foods with the power of the sun. Iceland has been a trailblazer in sustainability - and the more companies that follow their lead, the quicker we can reduce our economy’s dependence on expensive fossil fuels and shift to a future powered by clean energy.”

Tarsem Dhaliwal, CEO of Iceland Foods, said: “This partnership is an exciting step in our journey towards achieving net zero by 2040. It also gives us some clarity on our energy costs for the coming years - at a significant discount to the current wholesale price. This helps to mitigate the impact of the volatility that has plagued the industry for the past 12 months. Switching to more renewable forms of energy to power our sites will be a huge priority for us in the coming years, as we continue to identify solutions to optimise sustainability across the business.”

Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest renewables investors. Its fund management team looks after nearly £6bn of green energy sites - and the team has signed various PPAs for the green energy sites it manages. This included a deal to send onshore wind power from Scotland to Kimberly Clark’s manufacturing and distribution facilities.

This is the latest way Octopus Energy is helping businesses harness cheaper renewable power. Octopus’ business energy division recently launched the ‘Max Power’ tariff which enables multi-site businesses with renewable generation on one site to share this energy with their other locations, and lower their bills as a result.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

Press Contacts

Octopus Energy Group

Amy Boekstein

PR Manager

amy.boekstein@octoenergy.com

+44 (0)20 4530 8369

About Octopus Energy Generation

Octopus Energy Generation is driving the renewable energy agenda and building green power for the future. This means reshaping the market by leading the transition to a cleaner, greener future through renewable projects connected more deeply to customers and businesses.

As one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, its fund management specialist team launched in 2010 with a mission to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy. This team manages over 3 GW of renewable energy assets like wind and solar farms across 12 countries, worth nearly £6bn. These renewable projects generate enough green energy to power 2 million homes every year, and is the equivalent of taking over 1 million petrol cars off the road. The business also launched the Fan Club in the UK 2021, the world's first local energy tariff that provides cheaper, greener energy to customers living near local wind turbines when the wind blows, with a discount of up to 50%. Thousands of people have got in touch asking for the Fan Club in their community.

For more information, check out our website.

About Octopus Energy Group

Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. It is part of Octopus Group, which is a certified BCorp. With operations in 19 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global.

Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 4.9 million customers with cheaper greener power, through Octopus Energy, Bulb, Affect Energy, Ebico, London Power and Co-op Energy. Octopus Electric Vehicles is helping make clean transport cheaper and easier, and Octopus Energy Services is bringing smart products to thousands of homes. Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, managing a nearly £6 billion portfolio of renewable energy assets throughout the continent.

All of these are made possible by Octopus’s tech arm, Kraken Technologies, which offers a proprietary, in-house platform based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, Kraken automates much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralised, decarbonised energy system. This technology has been licensed to support 30 million customer accounts worldwide, through deals with EDF Energy, Good Energy, E.ON energy and Origin Energy.

In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5 billion following investments from Generation Investment Management and Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.

For more information, check out our website.