BOC to offer renewable industrial gases to Australian food and beverage sector in 2023

Leading gas and engineering company BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, today announced a new power purchase agreement (PPA) with energy from waste facility Avertas Energy and Shell Energy that will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions nationally by 16 percent. 

Under the 5-year agreement with Avertas Energy, BOC will purchase large-scale generation certificates from the Kwinana-based energy from waste facility starting 1 January 2023. Under the energy retail agreement with Shell Energy, BOC will start receiving electricity for its Kwinana and Canningvale sites from mid-2022. 

The PPA will enable BOC to support decarbonisation of Australia’s largest food and beverage manufacturers, along with other industrial customers, with BOC purchasing enough certificates that all carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen supplied by BOC to the food and beverage sector can be produced by 100% renewable electricity starting from 2023. 

John Evans, Managing Director, BOC South Pacific said this was a significant step forward in achieving BOC’s sustainability goals to achieve a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2028 and support long-term decarbonisation across its customer base. 

“BOC is proud to be partnering with Avertas Energy and Shell Energy on this significant power purchase agreement that reduces BOC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 16% and supports the development of a world-leading energy from waste facility. 

“We look forward to offering our customers the opportunity to decarbonise their operations, with carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen a critical product for many food and beverage applications including modified atmosphere packaging, cryogenic freezing and carbonating drinks. 

“BOC is committed to increasing our renewable energy sourcing from solar, biomass or biogas and wind projects across the country, and actively exploring more opportunities on the east-coast of Australia.” 

Avertas Energy CEO Frank Smith said, “We are pleased to be able to support BOC on its decarbonisation journey.” 

Shell Energy Australia CEO Greg Joiner said the company was proud to support BOC’s sustainability goals, and to assist the decarbonisation of Australia’s manufacturing sector. 

“Designing and delivering products and services that help large energy users decarbonise is a key focus for us as we assemble the building blocks of a cleaner energy system in Australia,” he said.

BOC made a similar agreement this year with the New Zealand Environmental Certificate Scheme and Kea Energy solar farm that will allow BOC to provide green hydrogen to its New Zealand customers including NZ Steel. 

Avertas Energy is an Australian-first facility that will use municipal solid waste to produce electricity. It will divert 400,000 tonnes per annum of waste from landfill and deliver circa 38MW of reliable baseload energy. 

-ENDS-

About BOC: 

BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment across the South Pacific region. 

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2020 sales of $27 billion (€24 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet. 

The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & refining, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing and primary metals. Linde's industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions. 

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com.