Stora Enso's Langerbrugge Mill helps Volvo Car Gent cut CO2 emissions by more than 40% with energy from waste. This equals 15 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to the heating of 5 000 households.
Stora Enso's Langerbrugge Mill has joined forces with Volvo Car Group, the global car company, to reduce carbon emissions at Volvo's plant in Belgium with renewable energy, via a district heating connection.
Langerbrugge Mill is located in Gent, Belgium close to Volvo's manufacturing facility, Volvo Car Gent. Stora Enso will install an underground hot water pipeline during 2015 to transport hot water at a temperature of 125 degrees Celsius to the car production facility. This will be used to heat Volvo's buildings and paint booths. The first hot water will be delivered in the autumn of 2016.
Stora Enso has a stated purpose to do good for the people and the planet. The joint project with Volvo is an additional step on this journey. Volvo Car Gent will, as a direct result of this initiative, substantially reduce its use of fossil fuels for heating purposes, decreasing its CO2 emissions by 15 000 tonnes per year, a net decrease of more than 40% of total CO2 emissions.
"We do not use gas or coal, we use waste to produce renewable energy," says Stora Enso Mill Manager Chris De Hollander. "Our power plants produce combined heat and power, currently providing all of the heat and more than 70% of the electricity to meet our mill needs. With rising energy costs, this is a great asset for us. And now we can deliver green heat to Volvo as well."
The mill has invested in bioenergy in recent years – it has a highly efficient multi-fuel boiler that is capable of using industrial waste for energy production. Such waste includes demolished waste wood from construction sites, along with other waste from the community that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
The project has been made possible with financial assistance from the Flemish Government, which provided an ecology subsidy of EUR 2 million.
