Arla Foods has won this year’s Green Power Prize for its determined efforts to electrify energy consumption across its dairies – including the use of electric high-temperature heat pumps for spray drying.
Arla Foods has received this year’s Green Power Prize from the Danish industry organisation Green Power Denmark. The award recognises companies that demonstrate how energy-intensive industries can be electrified at scale.
In recent years, Arla has invested approximately 600 million Danish kroner in electrification in Denmark, including heat pumps and electric boilers, while accelerating the phase-out of natural gas across its production sites.
“Arla has managed to electrify some of the food industry’s most energy-intensive processes, which have until now been difficult to electrify. It is thoroughly deserved that Arla is this year’s winner of the Green Power Prize,” says Kristian Jensen, Chief Executive of Green Power Denmark.
Electric spray drying
A central element of the award is Arla’s factory in Svenstrup, near Aalborg, where the company produces milk powder for export markets around the world. The site now uses electric high-temperature heat pumps for spray drying – one of the most energy-intensive processes in dairy production.
According to Green Power Denmark, the measures implemented across Arla’s Danish production sites have contributed to a 44 per cent reduction in the company’s global Scope 1 and 2 emissions compared with 2015. Since the end of 2025, all of the company’s European sites have also been powered by renewable electricity through long-term energy agreements.
“We are proud to receive the 2026 Green Power Prize. It is recognition that Arla, together with our farmer owners, is working purposefully to transform our production, reduce our climate footprint, and future-proof an efficient food manufacturing operation. Electrification is an important step on that journey and demonstrates that we can combine high production efficiency with tangible climate improvements and greater energy security,” says Line Brandt Pedersen, responsible for sustainability in the supply chain at Arla.
A model for industry
The prize was presented at Green Power Denmark’s Annual Summit at K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, where Arla representatives received this year’s trophy and DKK 30,000 for a green purpose. The other finalists this year were DEIF and Peter Nielsen.
According to Green Power Denmark, the jury placed particular weight on electrification initiatives that deliver concrete, measurable results and are considered scalable and replicable across industry.
“We need far more companies to replace old habits with new electric solutions. Companies like Arla show that electrification and energy-intensive industry are not at odds with each other – quite the contrary,” says Kristian Jensen.
By Maja Løvstrup
Source: Press release, Green Power Denmark
Photo: Jeppe Carlsen
