Along with being powered by low-carbon electrical energy, the brand new furnace on the Pochet du Courval manufacturing unit “consumes half as a lot power (…) whereas providing the next capability,” 66 tons per day in comparison with 50 for a gas-fired furnace, in response to André Frézel, the group’s technical director.
Whereas industries throughout France and Europe face challenges in swiftly transitioning from fossil-fueled furnaces and boilers to electrical alternate options, the family-owned group—specializing in packaging for the luxurious items sector and using 1,650 individuals in its glass division—stays firmly dedicated to its decarbonization objectives, even when it means, as they put it, “going in opposition to” the prevailing financial local weather.
The group manufactures and decorates containers for among the largest French and worldwide luxurious manufacturers. Some have develop into iconic, such because the Guerlain bee bottle, designed in 1853 for Empress Eugénie. Almost 200 years later, Pochet goals to satisfy the calls for of its clients for improved local weather efficiency.
The glass trade, which is very depending on fuel, accounts for 3% of French industrial greenhouse fuel emissions, emitting a mean of 500 kg of CO2 per ton of glass produced, in response to the French Federation of Glass Industries. To cut back the power required for melting, Pochet already makes use of 15% recycled glass. The group goals to halve all its greenhouse fuel emissions by 2033 in comparison with 2014.
Electrical energy is the important thing to competitiveness
This small revolution required 7 months of labor and 12,000 hours of coaching to grasp the brand new software. “Fuel heats up shortly and intensely, however cools down shortly,” whereas electrical energy “heats intensely, slowly, and cools down slowly,” explains Benoît Marszalek, Operations Director at Pochet du Courval.
With an funding of EUR 40 million, together with EUR 6 million in public subsidies, this alternative was removed from apparent given the rise in power costs “for the reason that battle in Ukraine,” he acknowledges.
An influence buy settlement with a solar energy plant ensures secure costs, however it’s not sufficient to cowl all of its carbon-free electrical energy wants. Therefore the decision from the group’s CEO, Xavier Gagey: “We want inexpensive electrical energy prices.“
Briefly, if the group is to construct a second electrical furnace, EDF—the historic and first electrical energy provider in France—might want to step up, and the federal government should ship clear alerts to assist industrial gamers dedicated to decarbonization. “Our opponents in Asia and the US pay two to 4 instances much less for power than we do in France—despite the fact that we’ve got a nuclear energy plant simply 40 kilometers away,” Gagey factors out.
For greater than a decade, EDF’s most electricity-hungry clients, from aluminum to chemical compounds, have been paying rock-bottom costs for his or her electrical energy in France, however this scheme will finish in 2026. Negotiations between EDF and these producers to switch it are stumbling over the worth for long-term contracts, which these “electro-intensive” firms take into account extreme to stay aggressive.
Xavier Gagey fears that smaller firms like Pochet will finally be much less properly off than metal or cement giants. “We should be taken into consideration, in any other case decarbonization is in jeopardy,” he warns.
