Vidrala has reached a strategic agreement with Spanish engineering company Norvento Enerxía, a renewable energy specialist, to work together on its decarbonisation plan.
Vidrala, which produces more than 8,000 million containers a year, has placed its trust in longstanding business partner Norvento Enerxía to accelerate its transition towards more flexible, competitive and environmentally friendly energy supply models.
Norvento Enerxía will help reduce Vidrala’s dependence on fossil energy sources, boost self-consumption and improve its overall energy efficiency.
The agreement includes the evaluation of technologies to advance Vidrala's energy transition, such as electrification, hydrogen, and renewable energies.
The alliance will further Vidrala's goal of making its glass factories the most sustainable and energy-efficient in the world by 2030.
As a result of the collaboration, Norvento Enerxía has participated in the construction project of the electricity generation plant using photovoltaic (PV) solar technology at Vidrala's factory, Crisnova, located in Caudete, Castilla La Mancha, Spain.
The plant, which produces around 900 million glass containers a year, has a capacity of 12 MW.
It is the largest solar project in the glass industry in Spain and will reduce the emission of 9,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
In addition, at an international level, Norvento Enerxía has also participated in different energy projects in the company's factories in Portugal and the United Kingdom.
The latter has the largest glass production furnace in Europe and is studying the possibility of covering its demand by wind power, exploring, in turn, the possibility of using green hydrogen.
Fiacre O'Donell, Vidrala's Sustainability Director, said: "We are very pleased to continue to count on Norvento Enerxias as a partner in achieving our ambitious Science Based Targets, approved earlier this year, which will position us on the path to becoming the world's most sustainable glassmaker by 2030.”
