Radić: Investors in Balkans seek biomass-fuelled boilers

Key pieces of equipment for L’Oréal’s hybrid trigeneration plant near Burgos in Spain have been designed and installed by company Polytechnik from Austria. The system relies on biomass and solar energy to produce steam, hot and cold water and electricity for the French cosmetics manufacturer’s operations.

Viktor Radić from Polytechnik told Balkan Green Energy News the greatest demand here, however, is for biomass-fuelled facilities. The manager for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Croatia said trigeneration is much more expensive and requires more complicated equipment.

Radić underscored biomass has great potential if used locally, where woody biomass is particularly interesting in the region. He also said clients from the private sector are interested in the commodity for the savings and reliable supply it enables, where the price and availability doesn’t depend on the market. The concept solves the issue of disposal of by-products, which would otherwise end up either in landfills or in nature, according to Polytechnik’s regional head.

L’Oréal’s strategy is to make its factories carbon neutral. The ambitious project started in the Spanish manufacturing facility, where all the brand’s hair care products are made. Earlier, the main fuels there were natural gas and electricity, but were replaced by biomass and solar energy. The biggest trigeneration system in Spain meets all energy demand in the factory and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 4,230 tonnes per year, which makes it carbon neutral, according to the company’s calculations.