January 27, 2021

Geelen Counterflow sets example for sustainable energy production

In a press statement, as part of its "100% sustainable" strategy, since the start of 2021, Geelen Counterflow is no longer using natural gas for heating and therefore no longer emits CO2 or NOx to keep its eight factory halls warm.

In the second half of 2020 the company's maintenance team was busy coordinating the installation of a warm water circuit throughout the factory to enable two industrial air/water heat pumps to take over factory heating from 15 gas burners.

By switching from natural gas to renewable electricity for factory heating, Geelen Counterflow is eliminating its Scope 1 emissions (direct use of fossil fuels) which is an important step towards its commitment to Science Based Targets for a maximum of 1.5oC global warming.

Switching to very efficient air/water heat pumps allows Geelen to use the free energy contained in the outside air for all but the coldest winter days. This means that energy consumption for heating can be reduced by 73% and that the remaining energy consumption is now only renewable electricity.

The electricity required for the heat pumps is supplied on an annual basis by additional solar panels. The new total of 3,403 panels with an installed capacity of 1 MWp will generate enough electricity per year to cover all consumption for laser cutting and bending of stainless steel, welding, forklifts, lights, computers, office air conditioning and factory heating.

Even though Geelen Counterflow is close to electricity balance on an annual basis (Scope 2), the company is developing options to reduce the electricity it sells back to the grid in the weekends and on long sunny days and also to reduce the renewable electricity it has to buy from the local renewable energy coop on dark days. Storage in the batteries of its electric company cars and forklift trucks can still be optimised. The payback time of large industrial batteries is now being investigated.

Heat pumps can also provide cooling in high summer when factory temperatures can be highly uncomfortable.

The main challenge for the Science Based Targets now is to also reduce Scope 3 emissions, in other words the fossil fuels used by dryers that Geelen sells to its customers. During the next year the first three dryers with electric heat pumps will be started up in South Korea, China and Norway. The associated energy and CO2 impacts are many times bigger than what Geelen has achieved back home. Managing director Sander Geelen says, "The principles are the same, whether we optimise our office and factory or we optimise our customer's drying process; first optimise energy efficiency, then apply sustainable energy sources. How could we possibly ask our customers to trust our proposals without first setting the example?"