How to produce, store and consume energy sustainably?

With rising prices, everyone today is looking for ways to be as economical as possible with their energy consumption. For Equans, this has been the order of the day for years. It bundled its solutions in that area in the Energy Efficiency Solutions department. In close cooperation with customers, from here it examines how to put the energy puzzle in the most efficient way. Today and for years to come.

In most food plants today, the use of energy is already a complex tangle. Steam, electricity, compressed air and energy for heating and cooling, already find wide use in the industry to achieve the right temperatures. "A knot that is even more difficult to untangle since renewable energy from decentralized production is part of the energy mix. Think solar panels and wind turbines, or combined heat and power (CHP). Moreover, all of these technologies influence each other. Sometimes they work complementary, sometimes they work against each other. As a company, you must therefore ensure that investments do not cancel each other out and take into account all financial and other aspects: legislation, subsidies, CO₂-charges, environmental permit ... We try to support customers in this by bringing everything together and making it as performant as possible," opens Sam François, Project Manager Energy Efficiency at Equans. 

Roadmap to climate neutrality

By the way, today's high energy prices are not the only reason to invest in the energy transition. Europe has its roadmap ready: it wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. It is now up to companies to do the same. "The road to consuming less energy and reducing CO₂ emissions fortunately lead along the same path. The technology already exists to take the next steps there. And although these are often significant investments that can involve major process changes, at the same time we see that the payback periods are drastically reduced because of the high energy costs," François emphasizes. So the time is right and Equans has the necessary knowledge and experience to assist companies in this regard. "We are not a study agency, but have really grown from day-to-day practice with our customers. That's where our expertise lies. That is of absolute added value in the theoretical calculations that an energy study requires. But also in the realization afterwards, up to and including the maintenance of the installations or financing. We are there to relieve the customer from A to Z with a reliable, transparent approach."

Energy efficiency first, then greening

"From Equans, we always look at energy efficiency first and foremost." François: "There are no standard solutions, because the needs of each company and the utilities required for each site are different. But the cheapest energy is always the energy you don't use. Do we really need that much energy or can we do it differently and better? That should be the starting point. Only then do we start looking at how we can green the energy mix for the customer. So that the energy he does need does not have to come from fossil fuels and he can become as autonomous as possible. If that doesn't work, there's still the option of aging. A natural gas CHP may still run on fossil fuel, but it can have a positive impact on the overall picture. So there is a lot involved, but with more than 70 years of experience, we can really guide customers in their energy transition," François concludes.    

Thorough energy study for new site
A leading Belgian brewery recently came knocking on Equans' door with an energy question. For its new site, it wanted to know which energy mix it could use to become as sustainable as possible while being less dependent on price fluctuations in the market. A challenge they gladly took on within Equans' Energy Efficiency Solutions. They looked at electricity, steam, cooling and compressed air. The result was a high-level conceptual study. This looked at the impact each technology choice would have on the customer's KPIs and which additional circumstances (presence of gas and electricity grid, environmental permit ... ) had to be taken into account. The combination that could ultimately best meet the customer's requirements was retained. With a TCO of just under 50% compared to an existing site, Equans managed to find a remarkably good match. Especially the biogas CHP plant (with quasi 100% energy efficiency) played a decisive role in this story.