npower have won the contract to supply TATA Steel’s UK plants. The huge contract is one of the biggest ever industrial energy supply deals and is npower’s biggest. It means they’ll be providing 5 Terawatt hours of energy to 22 TATA Steel plants.

To put that in context, 5TWh is enough to power all the homes in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Coventry and Bradford combined.TATA Steel is one of the world’s top ten steel producers. The Indian company bought Corus in 2006 and is already Europe’s second largest producer. The value of the contract has not been disclosed but its certain to make the board at npower smile.

Volker Beckers, CEO of RWE npower, said: “It is a major coup for npower to be the energy partner of a company at the heart of UK industry. The sheer scale of this supply contract demonstrates how energy plays a crucial role in supporting business and the UK economy.”

Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler, Managing Director and CEO of TATA Steel Europe added: “We operate in a very volatile and challenging energy environment nowadays. We need an energy supplier committed to managing our requirements in terms of continuity of supply, delivered costs and service, and we have been impressed by the way npower has demonstrated enthusiasm and capability to meet those requirements.”

As part of the deal npower will not only supply TATA’s power but also help it manage energy consumption.