Black Hills Corp. sustainability report sets net zero emissions by 2035 commitment

Through its 2021 Sustainability Report, released this week, Black Hills Corp. announced a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2035, doubling its initial target and expanding the scope of that push to include all sources of methane emissions in its distribution system.

Previously, the company’s goal settled on a 50 percent reduction by 2035, only for its mains and services. Now, pipelines and services, damages, blowdowns, transfer stations, meters, pressure relief valves – all will be covered by the complete net zero push.

“We are committed to creating a cleaner energy future that builds on our responsibility to provide the safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy that improves our customers’ lives,” Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Corp, said. “We are enabling the energy transition through the addition of low or zero carbon generation sources, power plant fuel conversions, new technologies, and a new commitment to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2035 for our natural gas distribution system.”

According to Evans, the company has already reached a one-third reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2005 levels. Even without the addition of new technologies, they emphasized that Black Hills would be capable of reducing emissions by 40 percent among its electric utility operations by 2030 and 70 percent by 2040.

The annual report highlighted the development of a voluntary renewable natural gas and carbon offset program last year that will cover three states if approved by regulators. That program will assist residential and small business natural gas customers in offsetting their emissions. In terms of energy efficiency, Black Hills also extended more than $10 million in energy efficiency rebates to residential and business customers in 2021, bringing with it energy savings of approximately 16 million kW hours of electricity and 380,000 dekatherms of natural gas.