Vidrala reaches strategic agreement with Norvento Enerxía to accelerate its decarbonisation plan

• This alliance reinforces Vidrala's goal of making its glass factories the most sustainable and energy efficient in the world by 2030.

• Norvento Enerxía will help to reduce its dependence on fossil energy sources, boost self-consumption and improve its overall energy efficiency.
• The agreement includes aspects such as the evaluation of technologies to advance in its energy transition through solutions such as electrification, hydrogen, and renewable energies.

 

The glass container manufacturing and sales company Vidrala has reached a strategic agreement with the Spanish engineering company specialised in renewable energy generation solutions, Norvento Enerxía, to work together on its decarbonisation plan. This alliance will further Vidrala's goal of making its glass factories the most sustainable and energy-efficient in the world by 2030.

Thanks to this agreement, both companies strengthen the relationship they have maintained for years with the aim of reducing Vidrala's dependence on fossil energy sources and CO2 emissions, adopting self-consumption of energy with controlled costs and improving the efficiency of its energy consumption model. The company, which produces more than 8,000 million containers a year, has placed its trust in the Galician company to accelerate its transition towards new, more flexible, competitive, and environmentally friendly energy supply models.

 

More efficient and sustainable glass

The new partnership focuses on three strategic lines aligned with Vidrala's Decarbonisation Plan. Firstly, Norvento Enerxía will help to promote sustainable energy generation sources, identifying, assessing, designing, and implementing renewable solutions for electricity and thermal generation that can be integrated into the company's production chain.

In addition, the energy company will carry out the same study process for the implementation of alternative technologies and innovative energy operation strategies for Vidrala to operate as sustainably, flexibly, and economically as possible. The third and final line of action is aimed at identifying areas of opportunity for energy investment and collaboration in the monitoring of local policies in the geographies of each production centre.

In short, Norvento Enerxía will act as strategic consultant, engineering, specialist, and manager of the energy assets in which Vidrala will invest in the coming years.

 

Self-consumption projects in progress

As a result of this collaboration, Norvento Enerxía has participated in the construction project of the electricity generation plant using photovoltaic solar technology at Vidrala's factory, Crisnova, located in Caudete, Castilla La Mancha. This 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, the Galician company 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.

Juan Morilla, Operations Director of Norvento Enerxía, says "for Norvento Enerxía it is a privilege to have the trust of Vidrala to advance in its decarbonisation plan. We are sure that our experience and capabilities accumulated throughout the life cycle of renewable energy projects - from promotion to operation - together with our extensive knowledge of the company, the result of years of collaboration, will allow us to help them in their energy strategy and to implement pioneering projects in their sector".

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 SBT targets, approved earlier this year, which will position us on the path to becoming the world's most sustainable glassmaker by 2030”.