Orkla uses surplus energy from snack factory for central heating

In 2014, the company therefore decided to use a methodology where the surplus heat and energy from the production could be turned into central heating of the factory as well as for heating of the houses of the surrounding community.  

In 2017, Orkla reached out to NIRAS in order to find a way of optimising the ongoing project. NIRAS managed to come up with a solution where the surplus heat and energy could be used even more efficiently and thereby contributing to lowering carbon emissions even more.

Energy mapping and heat recovery

NIRAS advised the Orkla Group on how to recover the heat from the production, which contributed to covering the factory’s own need for central heating. Furthermore, the excess heat also delivered what is equivalent of the annual heating of 200 households in Denmark.

“Our approach was to map the company’s different types of energy and heat consumption. Initially,  a mapping of all cold and hot energy streams was made in order to find pinch points and optimise the energy efficiency of the systems. Secondly, focus was turned on electricity and a map of all energy consuming equipment was made in order to determine their energy efficiency and the simultaneity factor,” explains market director in NIRAS, Frank Nyegaard.  

By carrying out an identification of all energy consuming processes in the plant, NIRAS managed to identify the energy saving potential in the factory and thereby also present proposals for energy optimisation.

From Conceptual Design to tendering and execution of the project

NIRAS prepared the Conceptual Design for the energy recovery project. This included establishment of an overview of the different possibilities and suggestions for the correct solutions to get a feasible and effective projects that would create maximum effect.

Furthermore, NIRAS worked out the basic and detailed design, as well as the tendering part of the project. Finally, NIRAS was responsible for the execution of the project.

“NIRAS’ project approach can be applied to a wide variety of other projects within different industries. Our expertise is not limited to this type of companies, and many companies have a huge potential for lowering their energy costs, providing their own heat supply, and not least bringing down their carbon footprint. There are really a lot of positive aspects to our approach,” says Frank Nyegaard.