Black Hills Energy highlights progress toward a cleaner energy future in newly released sustainability report

Black Hills Energy announced the release of its 2022 Corporate Sustainability Report, showcasing the company’s environmental, social and governance performance and its progress on major projects and climate goals. 

“Nearly seven generations have relied on us for almost 140 years, both in good times and challenging ones. We're the backbone of hundreds of small towns and growing cities, providing the energy to support families and businesses across our eight-state footprint," said Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Energy. "Building on this legacy of service, we remain focused on meeting the energy needs of our more than 1.33 million customers, while being mindful of our business' broader economic, social and environmental impacts."

“Our sustainability report and disclosures provide transparency and insight into our performance and actions on issues that are important to our business, customers and stakeholders,” continued Evans. “We’re pleased to share our progress over the past year.”

We've reduced our electric utilities' greenhouse gas emissions intensity by one-third since 2005 and have a clear path to achieve our reduction goals of 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2040. We've more than doubled the generating capacity of our system over the last two decades, while reducing nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly 80% since 2005 through the installation of advanced pollution control equipment and plant retirements. Our gas distribution utilities emissions target is Net Zero by 2035.

Key achievements include:

• Expanded clean energy offerings: The company continued to expand its renewable energy portfolio of 268 MW of owned and operated wind generation capacity across its service territory with the addition of purchased energy commitments from the 80 MW Fall River Solar and the 106 MW Wyoming wind projects that were placed into service in 2023. Approximately 25% of the company's total owned or contracted generation is made up of renewable energy.
• Advancements in renewable natural gas: With the fourth renewable natural gas interconnection project placed into service in 2020, up to another 400 mmBtu per day of biogas has been added to the company’s natural gas supply.
• Community impact: The company’s direct economic impact totaled $1.36 billion in 2022 — a result of the company’s charitable giving, compensation for more than 3,000 employees, franchise fees, payments to suppliers, and property, sales and use taxes paid to communities within Black Hills Energy’s eight-state service territory.
• Customer support: The company provided $380,000 in funding through its Black Hills Cares program that provides financial assistance to customers in need which we matched dollar-for-dollar.
• Energy efficiency and conservation: Black Hills Energy provided nearly $9 million in energy efficiency rebates in 2022 to residential and business customers, leading to annual energy savings of about 17 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and nearly 386,000 dekatherms of natural gas — enough energy to power more than 2,300 homes with electricity and about 4,900 homes with natural gas for one year.

The sustainability report was developed using guidance from the Edison Electric Institute and the American Gas Association ESG quantitative disclosure and the Global Reporting Initiative. In addition to our corporate sustainability report, we also disclose through the ESG frameworks, which can be found at www.blackhillsenergy.com/sustainability.