IN Brief:
- Mars has secured a long-term PPA linked to the planned 158.4MW Skuodas Wind Farm in Lithuania.
- The project is expected to generate around 490GWh of renewable electricity each year.
- The agreement links pet food production to new renewable power capacity in the Baltic region.
Mars has signed a long-term renewable electricity agreement in Lithuania that will help power its pet food manufacturing facility at Gargždai.
The power purchase agreement has been signed with European Energy and is tied to the planned Skuodas Wind Farm, a new-build project expected to reach an installed capacity of 158.4MW. Once operational, the wind farm is expected to generate around 490GWh of renewable electricity annually, with the output estimated to avoid approximately 120,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions a year.
The project is scheduled to begin operations in 2028. Mars has said the agreement forms part of its Renewables Acceleration Programme, which is designed to increase renewable electricity use across its operations and value chain. The deal includes bundled guarantees of origin, connecting the contracted electricity to new renewable generation in the region.
Mars’ Gargždai pet food site opened in 1993 and employs around 800 full-time personnel. The plant is one of the company’s major manufacturing assets in Lithuania and will be supported by the agreement as Mars continues to expand renewable electricity sourcing across European markets.
The company has already signed renewable energy deals in Poland, Sweden, and the US. It expects its wider renewables programme to contribute to an estimated 10% reduction in its total carbon footprint by 2030, measured against a 2015 baseline.
Food and pet food manufacturers are increasingly treating electricity procurement as part of industrial planning, rather than as a separate corporate sustainability function. Production sites with large refrigeration, drying, cooking, and handling loads need stable energy supply as well as credible emissions reduction routes.
Corporate PPAs have become one of the more direct mechanisms for manufacturers to support additional renewable generation. They can also provide longer-term visibility over electricity sourcing in markets where industrial energy costs have remained volatile.
The Lithuanian project connects a defined manufacturing footprint with regional renewable capacity. That type of structure is becoming more valuable as food producers face closer scrutiny over Scope 2 emissions, renewable sourcing quality, and the difference between certificate purchases and contracted generation.
The agreement also adds renewable power capacity to Lithuania’s grid at a time when European manufacturers are being pushed to reduce carbon intensity without weakening production resilience. Large food plants cannot decarbonise through procurement language alone; the supporting infrastructure has to exist at sufficient scale.
Mars’ next milestone will be the operational start of the Skuodas Wind Farm in 2028. Until then, the agreement sets a clear direction: energy strategy is moving deeper into manufacturing operations, site planning, and long-term supplier commitments.
