Sustainable Biz Magazine A4 March 2023 - Flipbook - Page 27
The funding will play a crucial role
in helping to clean up big-emitting
industries as part of the UK’s green
industrial revolution - decarbonising
their industrial processes and
reducing their reliance on expensive
fossil fuels, such as gas. This means
businesses will not only reduce their
environmental impact, but also save
on their energy bills and safeguard
thousands of British jobs.
Graham Stuart, Minister at the
Department for Energy Security and
Net Zero said: “Boosting the energy
efficiency of industrial processes is a
critical step not only in our transition
to a lower-carbon economy, but also
by helping businesses to cut their
energy costs and protect valuable
British jobs.
“That’s why the government has
stepped in once again to support
energy intensive industries, with
a fresh funding round to unleash
the next generation of green
innovators who are re-shaping the
way technology can reduce carbon
emissions.”
So far, £34.8 million of funding has
been awarded through the Industrial
Energy Transformation Fund, which
was first launched in June 2020.
Greener food
One of the biggest food companies
in Europe, Dunbia, based in
Carmarthenshire, Wales, has been
awarded funds to upgrade its heating
system from a gas oil fired steam
boiler to an air source heat pump that
is powered by renewably sourced
electricity. This allows the company to
harvest edible products and process
the food with hot water washing,
through a sustainable and energy
efficient thermal supply system,
reducing carbon emissions each year.
Sustainable roads
Harsco Environmental’s SteelPhalt
plant, based in Rotherham, South
Yorkshire, has been developing and
manufacturing high performance
tarmac products for the UK
roadmaking industry since the 1960s.
This energy intensive process of
drying, heating, crushing, grinding,
conveying currently utilises large
volumes of natural gas, gas oil and
electricity from the grid, but thanks
“One of the biggest food companies in Europe,
Dunbia, based in Carmarthenshire, Wales, has
been awarded funds to upgrade its heating system
from a gas oil fired steam boiler to an air source
heat pump that is powered by renewably sourced
electricity. This allows the company to harvest
edible products and process the food with hot
water washing, through a sustainable and energy
efficient thermal supply system"
to government funding, the company
is investigating ways to capture the
waste heat in the exhaust gases
and transform it into electrical
power, reducing the fuel demand
of the road burners and supporting
manufacturing in the local area.
Lighter, safer vehicles
Autotech Engineering / Gestamp is
a multinational based in Newton
Aycliffe, County Durham, specialising
in the design, development and
manufacture of metals for lighter and
safer vehicles. Whereby high-tonnage
presses of flat metal sheets typically
loses lots of energy through heat
and noise, IETF has helped to fund
the SERPENT project which is actively
capturing and reusing this lost energy.
With a reduction of almost 10%
already seen in peak power usage
during tool changeover, this funding is
helping to lower energy consumption
and the environmental impact of
critical car manufacturing.
Say cheese
The Long Clawson Dairy has been
producing cheese for over a century,
running over 31 farms in the
Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and
Derbyshire areas. The production of
cheese is an energy intensive process
involving both heating and cooling
activities. Through IETF funding, the
company has created a new thermal
storage system, using revolutionary
high temperature heat pumps to
reduce overall energy by 27% and
saving 34% carbon emissions, with
the ambition of moving to a purely
electrically powered in the long term.
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