Here comes the sun: Lactalis powers French dairy factory with renewable energy

03 Jan 2024 --- Lactalis and renewable heat supplier Newheat have joined forces to open “the largest solar thermal power plant in France,” which is expected to provide heat to Lactalis’ dairy factory for the next 25 years. The project covers a surface area of 15,000 m² and will cut the CO2 emissions of the site’s drying tower by 2000 tons per year, equivalent to 7% of the site’s total emissions.

The move marks a major step in the large-scale deployment of solar heat for F&B applications.

According to Lactalis, heat production is the primary energy consumer in France, representing 45% of its final energy needs, with 60% being supplied by fossil fuels and accounting for 80% of the national gas imports. Decarbonizing heat is essential in the broader endeavor to decarbonize the nation’s energy mix, facilitating energy independence.

“Back in 2020, the Lactalis site at Verdun was already a frontrunner in choosing solar heat to decarbonize the activity of its future drying tower. Today, the renewable heat sector and solar thermal energy in particular, is experiencing a significant upsurge,” states Hugues Defreville, president and co-founder of Newheat.

He adds that Lactalis, a “global leader” in dairy products, will encourage other manufacturers to adopt solar energy for their decarbonization projects following this announcement.Hugues Defreville, president and co-founder of Newheat (Image credit: Newheat).

Heating minus the emissions
The Lactalis site at Verdun converts liquid whey, a by-product of cheese-making, into whey powder for the food industry, with a reported annual production capacity of 75,000 tons. To transform the liquid whey into powder, the ingredient goes through a drying tower, which needs to be heated.

“After the major renovations of the Verdun site and the inauguration of the new drying tower in 2021, it was vital to continue our transformation by focusing on the reduction of our energy footprint,” underscores Jean-Luc Bordeau, managing director of the Ingredients division at Lactalis.

The tower commenced operations in November 2021 and was initially fed by a gas boiler. At the time, Lactalis received €45 million (∼US$51 million) to reduce the carbon footprint at its industrial sites, aiming to reduce gas consumption at the Verdun site. For this, the company opted for one of the most “virtuous” renewable heat solutions available — solar thermal energy.

“Solar thermal technology is particularly simple and reliable. A flat solar thermal collector is a special type of metal plate: when it heats up in the sun, water circulating behind it also heats up on contact with it,” explains the company.

Newheat’s Lactosol solar thermal power plant, situated immediately next to the Lactalis Verdun site, has been supplying heat to the drying tower for the last few months. The power plant consists of a 3,000 m² storage tank that can store several days’ worth of heat production for uninterrupted supply at night and on cloudy summer days.

Lactosol is reportedly France’s largest solar thermal power plant that feeds an industrial site, and the second largest in Europe.

The solar thermal power plant is expected to reduce the site’s gas consumption by 6% (11% of the total consumption of the drying tower), and thus its CO2 emissions by 2000 tons per year.

The company further highlights that further progress will be seen at the Verdun site with the installation of a biomass boiler between now and 2026 to replace nearly 50% of the gas consumption with renewable energy.F&B manufacturers are exploring renewable energy to power their premises.

F&B turns to solar power
Manufacturers are increasingly turning to renewable resources to power up their facilities and enhance their environmental sustainability performance.

Earlier this year, Nomad Foods announced a new solar power purchase, providing 2.4 megawatts of solar energy annually to its Italian plant. The move aims to reduce its environmental impact and promote sustainability in the frozen food industry.

Further, Mondelēz turned to solar energy in Poland to offset the electricity-related carbon footprint of eight domestic factories.

Amid the war in Ukraine, Arla Foods adopted solar energy to reduce dependency on the unreliable Polish grid.

Last year, Angel Yeast was officially recognized as a national “Green Factory” by China’s Industry and Information Technology Ministry for ramping up solar energy and clean production methods such as solar panel installations.

By Insha Naureen