Poland’s factories go renewable

Back in 2019, a couple of masters students completed a thesis that included measuring DeLaval’s CO2e footprint in the supply chain. DeLaval then took action based on the results of the research. The measurements showed that the company’s Polish factories had the biggest footprint on a kWh basis. Coal was in the energy mix and the team in Poland started looking at alternatives.

“When we found out about our emissions, my colleague Maciej Czarnecki (Sourcing Manager) was in the process of negotiating a new energy deal for 2021,” says Katarzyna Dzusajew, Detergent Plant manager and part of the DeLaval Sustainability Group.

Katarzyna Dzusajew, Detergent Plant Manager

The team signed an energy contract for 2021 and have now prolonged it into 2022. There are four factories in Poland today, three in Wrocław and one in Dobre Miasto. The Milking, Detergents and Dobre Miasto factories purchase Eko Premium green energy. This energy comes from water and wind. The Cooling plant can’t yet be connected directly to a green energy source so DeLaval buys the equivalent amount to put into the grid for other users.

The four plants used 3,6 million kilowatts of energy in 2021 and with the new energy mix, that has led to a reduction of 3,500,000 kg of CO2e emissions.

“Our Swedish plants and Gallin site in Germany are already running on renewable energy but when we made this transition, our Belgian sourcing colleagues looked at what we were doing and made the same decision,” says Dzusajew.

“They are now saving 55,000kgs of CO2e emissions as a result of the shift.”

For Dzusajew, the shift to renewable energy has helped change the mindset of many at DeLaval in Poland. “We were already active before this. We have ISO14000 certification, but this took us another step. It makes you look at things in a different way.