Eneco - Green light for green electricity and steam

Eneco Bio Golden Raand, located in the port area of Delfzijl, converts biomass into green electricity and green steam. Each year, the plant processes approximately 300,000 tons of waste wood from the Netherlands and neighboring countries. As part of Eneco’s climate ambitions, a project was initiated in 2022 to replace the existing fluorescent lighting in and around the boiler room. The project was carried out under the supervision of itsme. “Two factors were important in this process: the cost, of course, but also the level of service.”

The term biomass sometimes sparks public debate. Eneco applies strict criteria to its use and exclusively utilizes B-category waste wood at Eneco Bio Golden Raand. This includes wood that can no longer be reused, such as old furniture and construction or demolition waste. It is collected by specialized recycling companies and processed into wood chips, which are burned in the boiler room.

Boiler Room

Through an ingenious transport system, wood chips are precisely fed into the boiler, where temperatures reach 900°C. The combustion boiler features a circulating fluidized bed and an extremely hot sand bed, ensuring optimal combustion of the wood chips. This design allows Eneco to extract nearly 2% more energy from biomass compared to an average biomass plant. Additionally, the facility meets the strictest emission standards, thanks to an advanced flue gas cleaning system. The immense heat generated during combustion is used to produce steam at a temperature of 550°C.

A portion of the steam is used to generate electricity through a complex technical process involving a turbine and a generator. The plant delivers this electricity directly to the high-voltage grid, supplying green power to over 120,000 households. Furthermore, steam is provided to an increasing number of companies in the nearby Chemie Park Delfzijl, helping to make the industrial park more sustainable and achieve a CO2 reduction of 250,000 tons per year. With steam extraction (heat supply) and its efficient design, the plant achieves an efficiency of up to 87%.

It All Started with a Malfunction

As Eneco aims to operate climate-neutral by 2035, sustainability and energy savings are key focal points. Two years ago, Eneco took action by starting the replacement of existing fluorescent lighting in and around the boiler room. To ensure sustainability, the company insisted on using only high-quality fixtures with a long lifespan and a short payback period.

“It actually started with a defect in some emergency fixtures,” says Tom Bolte, EC&I technician at Eneco Bio Golden Raand. “I proposed to my manager that we place a larger order for fixtures with a supplier. We reached out to several suppliers, and itsme turned out to be the most cost-effective option.”

Eventually, it was decided to have the entire project carried out under the supervision of itsme. “Two factors were crucial in this decision: the cost, of course, but also the level of service, which itsme provided exceptionally well. Moreover, itsme was the only supplier to offer a total price for this project.”

"We reached out to several suppliers, and itsme turned out to be the most cost-effective."

The project required a significant financial investment. To assess its feasibility, Bolte decided to perform a calculation based on a conservative estimate of the electricity market price. This calculation also considered reduced energy costs and the possibility of selling surplus generated electricity. Including maintenance cost savings, the payback period turned out to be less than five years.

“It’s fantastic to have a system that pays for itself,” says Bolte. “Moreover, any energy you don’t use yourself here can be used by someone else, which is great for the environment. In every respect, this was a rewarding project.”

Installation with Heat Load

The boiler room is an eleven-story building with the combustion boiler at its center. The space is illuminated across all eleven floors with more than 550 fixtures. As the old fixtures were gradually deteriorating, it was clear that simply selecting any fixture for the new LED lighting wouldn’t suffice.

Due to the exceptionally high temperature in the combustion boiler, the temperature in the surrounding boiler room can also rise significantly, despite the ventilation. The new fixtures needed to withstand these conditions. The technical team at Eneco Bio Golden Raand tested four different brands of LED fixtures and installed them on-site. The Schuch Proxima 161 PX fixtures, specially designed for ambient temperatures up to 50°C, performed the best.

For the installation of the hundreds of fixtures, itsme enlisted installation partner Probis Nederland from Beilen. Probis also took care of the project management. “A lot of respect for how the team handled it,” says Bolte. “It was during the summer, and it’s incredibly hot in the boiler room. So, it wasn’t always a pleasant working environment.”

Due to the high temperatures, it was decided to adjust the work process. Instead of working from top to bottom in the boiler room, the decision was made to work from bottom to top. This approach aimed to reduce the heat load for the staff.

“To avoid the heat during the day, we worked several times in the evening.”

Hendrik van Voorthuizen, the project manager at Probis, remembers it well. “The experience was quite impressive. A complex factory, many height differences, many floors. Because you have to stand on a step to replace the fixture, while there’s a drop right next to you, the technicians were almost always required to use fall protection. Although the work wasn’t very complex, the high temperatures made it not always easy. At that time, we were dealing with a small heatwave in the Netherlands. The facility is made of metal, so yes, the indoor temperature increased significantly. That was a challenge. To avoid the heat during the day, we worked several times in the evening.”

Welcome Addition

According to van Voorthuizen, communication between the involved parties was based on mutual respect and trust. “This created an open line of communication, both between itsme and Probis, as well as with the joint client. Direct communication with Eneco, without the intervention of various intermediaries, was therefore easily possible.” The approach of itsme and Probis, a combination of material provision and installation work, resulted in greater effectiveness for the client. This collaboration is thus seen as successful and efficient. Van Voorthuizen: “I found it a particularly enjoyable and interesting project to carry out and am open to more of these kinds of projects, precisely because of the challenging aspects.”

For Eneco Bio Golden Raand, the comprehensive package from itsme was the deciding factor. “We have a relatively small group of people who keep the plant running here,” explains Bolte. “We are very versatile and have many different tasks. As a result, we don’t have enough time to handle such projects ourselves. For us, it was a welcome addition that we didn’t have to arrange everything ourselves. Taking care of a customer is quite important these days, and that’s a plus. Of course, a market-conform price is also important.”

Greener

Eneco Bio Golden Raand now contributes to a better environment in many ways. With the new LED fixtures from Schuch, maintenance costs are lowered because lamp replacements are now a thing of the past. This contributes to the continuity and safety of the business process. The energy consumption is also significantly reduced by switching to LED, with the energy-efficient Proxima fixtures consuming about 65% less power than their conventional predecessors.

Meanwhile, thoughts are being given to the lighting in the control room and other areas of the building. “We’re keeping good contact with itsme,” says Bolte. “We might be installing an e-boiler here, and then some expansion may be needed.” Even then, itsme will be happy to contribute to a green future for Eneco.

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