Koehler Renewable Energy is continuing to expand when it comes to developing power plants dedicated to the production of sustainable energy. The most recent development in this area was the acquisition, through the company’s UK subsidiary, of the Pitnacree hydropower plant in Scotland on November 1st, 2024.

Sustainability is a basic guiding principle for the way the Koehler Group does business, a cornerstone of the company’s strategy, and an integral part of its organization. In its third sustainability report, which was published at the end of August, the family-owned company provides an insight into further details of its sustainability strategy, how it is being implemented and what progress has already been made. What’s more, the Koehler Group has set 38 ambitious goals in different areas of action and is revealing them for the first time in the report.

As an energyintensive company, the Koehler Group recognizes its responsibility to the environment and climate and has been actively involved in renewable energies for over two decades. The company went a step further, setting up Koehler Renewable Energy as a dedicated division over ten years ago. Koehler Renewable Energy has been active in the UK since 2013, initially as part of a joint venture, and also set up its own UK company in September 2021. Koehler recently boosted its presence in the hydroelectric sector in the UK by acquiring all shares in six run-of-river hydropower projects.

Zollikofer is an international logistics and commercial company that focuses on sawmill byproducts and reclaimed timber, forest wood, and fuelwood. It has been part of the Koehler Group since 2021. With the acquisition of REKO Energie Bois (REKO), Zollikofer is tapping into the eastern French market. REKO provides comprehensive solutions for supplying fuelwood and primarily specializes in utilizing wood in the French market, particularly to prepare fuels for biomass combined heat and power plants.

Koehler Paper and Badische Stahlwerke (BSW), a steel producer, have teamed up with the Rhine port of Kehl to study the feasibility of harvesting wind energy at the port facilities. They hope to find out if building wind turbines is a feasible solution to suppling their own energy at the companies' sites in Kehl.

As a manufacturer of specialty paper, Koehler Group is involved in an energy-intensive industry and is keenly aware of its responsibility towards the environment and the climate. With this in mind, the company has been investing in renewable energy generation for over twenty years, setting up a sec-ond division of the business, Koehler Renewable Energy, over a decade ago to focus on this area. With the “2030 Koehler Promise”, Koehler Group sets itself the goal of generating more energy from renewable sources with its own facilities than it consumes producing paper by 2030 at the latest.

Koehler Renewable Energy is delighted to announce that the new wind farm Wetzlar-Blasbach is now up and running. Planning work for the wind farm began way back in 2012. It was given final approval after 10 years, and construction work began that same year.

The spectacular transportation of a total of six rotor blades from the loading site in Fellinghausen to the planned wind farm in Blasbach began in the last few weeks.

The timber industry in the Murg valley has a long-standing tradition and there are still a number of paper-producing companies here today. The paper industry is an energy-intensive industry, which is why the development of energy prices in the last two years has led to massive challenges. The paper and pulp industry is therefore calling for locally generated green electricity to secure jobs in the Murg valley in the long term.

As a family business, the Koehler Group focuses not on its quarterly results, but rather on the long-term future and generations to come. In this second sustainability report, the company therefore provides the first details of its 2030 sustainability strategy and the ambitious targets that it has set itself as a business.