Koehler Paper switches to 100% green energy for new production line

Paper Solutions Green Solutions

The Koehler Group has been developing the first steps in its climate strategy for some years now, including its ‘2030 promise’. The company declared its mission was to produce more energy from renewable sources than required for its own needs by 2030. For many years now, the company has been completing highly successful projects to continuously reduce the energy consumed in its paper production operations.

Now, another milestone in its climate strategy has been reached. Since the start of the year, the new production line 8 in Kehl has been using 100% green energy. In addition, steam from the biomass combined heat and power plant at the Kehl site has been used to dry the paper web with virtually zero CO2 emissions since the plant started up in 2019.

As a result, production line 8 at the Kehl site has been climate neutral since the start of 2021. The 75,000 MWh of electricity consumed by the factory per year comes entirely from green energy generated by a single regional source – the Schluchsee hydroelectric power plant in the Black Forest. ‘We estimate this step will save around 45,000 tonnes of CO2 per year,’ explained Dr Stefan Karrer, COO at the Koehler Group.

The move shows the company’s focus on sustainability does not begin and end with sustainable products. ‘The flexible packaging paper and Blue4est environmentally friendly thermal paper that we make on production line 8 in Kehl have been produced using renewable energy since the start of the year,’ he added. The group’s sustainability drive is visible throughout the paper value chain as a result.

Climate friendly manufacturing on production line 8 is just one of many projects being pursued by the Koehler Group to achieve the climate strategy goals it has set for itself, and to play its part in implementing the Paris Agreement. The company is working toward using alternative, more sustainable energy sources for its entire paper production energy supply. As previously reported, a major step in implementing Koehler’s climate strategy was the conversion of its combined heat and power plant at the company

headquarters in Oberkirch from bituminous coal to biomass. This is saving an additional 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Koehler Renewable Energy, part of the Koehler Group, is also helping to implement the climate strategy. Koehler Renewable Energy has already implemented numerous projects in the fields of biomass combined heat and power plants, wind power, photovoltaics, and hydropower. The experts are proficient in all stages of the value chain, from acquisition, to planning and development, to seamless, long term operation. Together with a range of partners, Koehler Renewable Energy already generates over 320,000 MWh of electricity, more than 545,000 MWh of heat, and over 780,000 tonnes of steam annually at its various locations in Europe – all using renewable energy sources.