Heat from Volkswagen Foundry will warm 4,500 flats in Poznań

The energy will come from the aluminium smelting process used for the production of the newest car models of the German automaker

The Volkswagen Poznań Foundry will soon be able to power thousands of local homes while reducing its CO2 emissions, as the city website informs. This is thanks to an innovative solution that Volkswagen implements in partnership with Veolia Energia. As a result, the company will recover nearly 16,000 megawatt hours of thermal energy from aluminium smelting every year and put it to good use in several buildings.

Innovation in the Volkswagen Poznań foundry

Volkswagen Poznań foundry has been recovering the heat generated from the operation of compressors since 2017 and then transferring it to the municipal heating network. Now, after seeing the tangible results of the first part of the recovery project, the company intends to expand the process to also recover the heat generated from the aluminium smelting plant.

Company representatives, commenting on the new investment, explained that the pro-environmental solution has a positive impact not only on the plant but on the city’s climate ambitions in general. In particular, the solution helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions reduce the occurrence of heat islands and direct nearly 16,000 Megawatt hours of thermal energy annually to heat houses, halls and commercial facilities in its vicinity.

How is industrial heat recovered and used in homes?

Aluminium, from which components for the production of cars are made, is melted in gas furnaces. In the past, during the smelting process, significant amounts of heat were released directly into the atmosphere. Now, it will be directed to an exchanger, where it will heat water. Through another exchanger, it will be also transferred to the heating installation of Veolia Energia Poznań.

In June 2022, the second foundry will be converted to this process, followed by two more by the end of this year.

Veolia has calculated that this will enable them to take over 56,000 gigajoules (GJ) of thermal energy and feed it into the district heating network. This investment will allow for the heating of 4,500 apartments in 45 multi-family buildings located in Poznań's Górczynie district as well as a shopping centre and a waste management plant.

Thanks to this investment, the Karolin heat and power plant in Poznań, which has so far provided thermal energy there, will emit 2,440 fewer tons of CO2 annually and will use approximately 3,200 fewer tons of coal per year.

The Volkswagen Poznań Foundry, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, is now one of the largest in the sector and in Europe. Among other things, it produces components for the newest, fully electric cars of the Volkswagen Group.