Heineken and CSIN open world's largest solar thermal plant in Spain
Heineken and CSIN (Solatom Indertec Company) have opened the world's largest solar thermal plant in Quart de Poblet (Valencia, Spain) featuring state-of-the-art Fresnel1 technology for industrial use.
This innovative Fresnel technology plays a crucial role in transitioning to renewable thermal energy, aligning with Heineken’s ambition of achieving net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2040.
Built in a record time of just eight months, this solar thermal plant is expected to reduce approximately 1,300 tons of CO2 emissions annually. By the end of 2024, the Valencia brewery aims to operate on 42% renewable energy (both electrical and thermal).
Carmen Ponce, Corporate Affairs Director, Heineken Spain: “In 2020 Heineken Spain became the first Spanish brewery with 100% renewable electricity. And we aim to make all the energy we use in production renewable, with projects such as the two solar thermal plants that we have opened in the last six months, first in our brewery in Seville and now in Valencia.”
Miguel Frasquet, technical director, CSIN: “In Spain we have the technology, we have the talent and the solar resource to lead industrial decarbonization in Europe. The Valencia solar thermal plant is an example that companies like Heineken are willing to take the first step and lead the change.”
Promising cutting-edge technology
The innovative solar technology used in the project is called linear Fresnel. The linear Fresnel, or simply Fresnel, helps to capture solar radiation and concentrate it to generate steam through turbines. Compared to renewable electricity solutions like solar panels and wind turbines, the renewable solutions for thermal energy are still in their early stages. Heineken views the first use of Fresnel technology on an industrial scale as a promising step to enable the company to reach its net zero ambitions.
At the Heineken brewing facility in Quart de Poblet, this translates into a solar field with 6,000 m2 of mirrors and 182 Fresnel modules. This is how peak power is achieved of 4MW thermal that covers 10% of the steam demand of this Valencian brewery. In addition, its 1.5MWh storage allows it to operate in transients and store part of the energy produced during weekends.
This launch follows last year's announcement that HEINEKEN Spain and Engie opened the largest industrial solar thermal plant in Europe. Both milestones are part of HEINEKEN Spain's commitment to brewing its beers with 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Brew a Better World
Heineken’s Brew a Better World ambitions focuses on three areas: raising the bar on environmental sustainability, accelerating social sustainability and championing responsible consumption. Achieving them will require significant investment, committed execution, continuous learning and bold collaboration. Strategic global and local partnerships – like the ones with CSIN and Engie - will help to shape actions, refine the approach and scale positive impact.
