Andalucía's regional government funds 300 projects to improve industrial energy efficiency

This incentive programme of the regional ministry of universities, industry, energy and innovation has provided grants totalling 66.6 million, administered by the Andalusian energy agency and aimed at SMEs and large companies.

The aim is to reduce CO2 emissions and strengthening the sustainability and competitiveness of the region's manufacturing sector.

Here are some of the initiatives these grants cover: the replacement of pumping equipment with more efficient alternatives at wastewater treatment plants; measures to utilise waste heat in the chemical industry; new injection moulding machines for the plastics sector; the replacement of process machinery and refrigeration systems in the agri-food industry; energy optimisation of the pressing line at a timber factory; and energy-saving and management measures in the metalworking, aeronautics, cement and olive pomace oil extraction industries.

As for specific cases, Seville company Destilaciones Bordas Chinchurreta has received 446,133 euros to achieve savings in its electricity demand of over one million kilowatts per year, thanks to the modernisation of its wastewater treatment process and the refurbishment of the packaging, storage and preservation of citrus juices and purées.

Fernández Montiel S.L., a Granada-based company specialising in the purchase and sale of plastic materials and the transport of goods (plastic crates and packaging for agriculture and industry), has achieved energy savings of up to 56 per cent without compromising production capacity, by replacing three plastic injection moulding machines with much more energy-efficient models. The new machinery has reduced electricity demand by almost two million kilowatts per year and CO2 emissions by 1,030 tonnes per year.

The Puertas T.H.T. Group, based in Antequera (Malaga) and specialising in the manufacture of metal entrance doors for homes, has used this funding to modernise its production line, replacing the electric heating systems (heating elements and heaters) with a more efficient propane gas burner that maintains a constant temperature in the preheating and curing ovens.

This has enabled the company to optimise the doors' passage through the curing oven, improving their finish without increasing energy consumption, and to replace the old sanders with new, more efficient dual-belt equipment offering better performance.

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