AGC and E.ON deepen their partnership to improve energy efficiency and decarbonization by signing the first Green PPA in France

Like all energy-intensive industries, the glass industry faces the challenge of producing more energy efficiently and reducing CO₂ emissions. Hence, energy company E.ON and glass manufacturer AGC now strengthen their existing partnership with a joint project for waste heat recovery and production of green power at AGC‘s float glass plant in Seingbouse, France. The project will be developed, implemented, financed and operated by E.ON. 

E.ON and AGC Glass Europe launched their partnership back in 2019 and have already implemented energy efficiency projects in various European countries. In addition, the construction of further photovoltaic plants with up to 20 megawatts capacity is planned in Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Re-use of waste heat to produce CO₂-neutral electricity 
Waste heat is the world's largest unused energy source. Around half of the heat used in industry is lost. It goes to waste, even though it is valuable. The heart of the glass production process is the float glass furnace which operates at high temperatures above 1000°C. About 30% of the heat needed for the production process at the end is lost in the flue gas and remained so far unused. E.ON and AGC Glass Europe want to change that. At AGC's production site in Seingbouse, this heat will be recovered to generate CO₂-neutral electricity by implementing an innovative Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant with a capacity of 1.3 megawatts (MW). 

To further decarbonize, E.ON is also installing a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 2.7 MW on the factory’s premises. It will generate renewable electricity on a total of 27 000 m². 

Green on-site PPA to reduce dependency from volatile energy markets
Combining the photovoltaic panels with the ORC power plant, E.ON will annually provide AGC with around 10 gigawatt hours (GWh) of decarbonized electricity from 2023 on. This electricity is fully produced and consumed on AGC’s site and covers a large part of the electricity needs. On this basis, around 595 tons of CO₂ are annually avoided.

Both parties have agreed to structure the project as PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) where E.ON will produce and sell electricity to AGC on a long-term basis at fixed price. This will allow AGC’s site to become largely independent of volatile energy markets. Additionally, the project does not require any investment from AGC as it is financed by E.ON and supported by French Government as part of the “France Relance” plan set up by ADEME*.

Marc Bartheld, Plant Manager AGC Seingbouse: "Our plant is one of AGC’s larger production lines for the building sector with a yearly production of 240 000 tons of float glass. Our goal is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent and our energy consumption by 20 percent by 2030. To achieve this, we are constantly working to improve the environmental performance of our production sites. The project in Seingbouse here in France is a perfect example of how E.ON can help us to not only achieve our sustainability goals, but also to secure the site's long-term competitiveness."

Guenther Schneider, Managing Director E.ON France: "Besides decarbonization, security of supply and independence from volatile commodity prices are becoming more and more crucial for our industrial customers in the current market environment. These targets can be achieved by consequently combining energy efficiency measures with the reuse of waste heat and locally produced green energy. Thanks to E.ON’s international presence we can help AGC to implement this sustainability strategy in an efficient way across their European sites.”  

(*) The ORC project is funded with a grant as part of the French economic stimulus program “France Relance”. The program “France Relance”, operated by ADEME, helps to enable the decarbonization of the French industry.