Stora Enso, Volvo Cars Inaugurate Renewable Energy Pipeline

Stora Enso, Finland, and Volvo Cars, Sweden, officially opened a new hot water pipeline between their manufacturing sites in Ghent, Belgium, on Nov. 18, 2016. The 4-km pipeline will take hot water heated using renewable energy from Stora Enso’s paper mill to the Volvo plant, where it will be used to heat buildings and paint booths. The annual reductions in CO₂ emissions correspond to the heating of 5,000 households.

Bart Tommelein, minister of energy for the Flemish government, ceremoniously opened the valves of the pipeline together with the managing directors of Volvo Car Gent and Stora Enso’s Langerbrugge Mill, Eric Van Landeghem and Chris De Hollander.

 

 

Thanks to the pipeline, Volvo Cars will use substantially lower amounts of fossil fuels for heating—also reducing the plant’s CO₂ emissions and energy costs. The project will lead to emission reductions estimated at 15 000 metric tons of CO₂ per year, cutting the Ghent plant’s total CO₂ emissions by more than 40%.

Volvo Car Group has a stated ambition to be among the leaders in climate neutral operations and energy efficiency. The joint project with Stora Enso takes the company a significant step closer to this goal, reducing its Europe-wide CO₂ emissions by 24%.

Stora Enso has committed to reduce the company’s use of fossil fuels to as close to zero as is technically and economically feasible over the next 10 years. This cooperation with Volvo is an example of the collaborative efforts Stora Enso is taking to combat global warming. Twelve of Stora Enso's mills are currently linked to local district heating systems, significantly reducing the use of oil and other fossil fuels in these localities. The project in Belgium was initiated in 2014.

"We are extremely pleased to be able to lower our CO₂ emissions and energy costs in line with our efforts to improve our internal efficiency and promote sustainability, both in the cars we make and in our production processes," said Eric Van Landeghem, managing director of Volvo Car Gent.

"The construction of a system of industrial district heating outside of our premises and the delivery of external renewable energy to Volvo Car Gent will lead to increased energy efficiency, which is beneficial to the environment and increases the use of our assets," noted Chris De Hollander, managing director of Stora Enso’s Langerbrugge Mill.

Stora Enso’s paper mill at Langerbrugge produces 550,000 metric tons of newsprint and magazine paper a year, made entirely from recycled paper.