After investing €3.5 million in a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant for its site in Adlington, UK, textile dyer, printer and finisher Pincroft has been able to produce 67% of its own electricity and recover heat for use across its textile operations equating to the natural gas equivalent of 658 tons of CO2 emissions during its first operating year.

A CHP unit is essentially a system that generates electricity and useful heat simultaneously from the same energy source. Usually, when electricity is produced, a great deal of heat is generated as a by-product, which often goes to waste. A CHP unit captures this by-product heat during electricity generation so it can be used across the production process.

“CHP is a proven technology offering a viable alternative to traditional centralised power generation, delivering a considerable efficiency increase compared to separate energy systems”, says Pincroft’s business strategy analyst Louise Becart. “As next steps, we are evaluating other sustainable technologies to combine with our CHP equipment, with the aim of reducing our reliance on natural resources and power consumption as much as possible, in line with our net zero goals.”

www.pincroft.co.uk