Rousset's energy saving program

Franck Maugein, Facilities Engineer, In charge of Electricity Operation & Maintenance, Rousset, France

How can our energy saving program help save the planet?

The link between electricity and global warming, in France and elsewhere, is CO2. In France, thanks to the large proportion of nuclear energy, the average CO2 emission per kWh is only 60g.

The more we consume, the more global warming increases. So, simply put, to reduce this effect, we need to reduce our energy consumption.

Can we do business profitably and still reduce energy?

In a word, yes. Environmental and business issues don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Although the initial investment to implement energy-saving solutions can be high, energy is so expensive that we can often see a Return On Investment in less than 24 months.

Since 2001, we have implemented around 15 projects on our Rousset site, which have enabled us to save 20 GWh (20,000,000 kWh) annually i.e. 1,200 tons of CO2 every year.

An example of one of our energy-saving projects

Just like a car, our Rousset facility has a cooling circuit for its manufacturing tools. The water consumed by the tools has to be controlled at 18°C, but the water cooling distribution systems can cause the temperature to rise by 4°C. To bring the temperature back to 18°C, we use a system of heat exchange, with a chilled water plan (PCW), to reduce the temperature by 4.5°C.

To reduce the energy required to supply this chilled water, we added a second heat exchanger to increase the exchange capacity with a third network. The water warmed in the third network, is supplied by a river with a temperature of 16°C, and consumed in the manufacturing process.