Above: On-site PV is planned for all Urenco’s production sites, including this one in Germany


power backup supplies to make sure that our sites can operate throughout the 24-hour operations that we have. This has mobilised around 40 individuals across the business from all sites and disciplines and the working groups are currently in a six-month phase to develop feasibility studies to identify what we need to go after, what we can go after and what the best priority of actions is to actually implement some physical changes so that our plants to align with the targets. That’s a real big mobilisation of resources. It’s also a big resource of different expertise within the business.” The initial feasibility studies were completed at the end of November 2023 ahead of the strategy launch. They will now be used to direct Urenco as to how the plant designs can be adapted and modified to reduce emissions towards the 2030 near-term target. Urenco says it will also produce annual updates of the plan going forward.


Getting started on emissions reduction Given part of the initial phase of the Net Zero strategy is identifying and evaluating the financial impact of the scope 1 decarbonisation programme, evaluating self-generation and contractual opportunities at all sites for Scope 2 emissions and developing a roadmap for Scope 3, Urenco has turned to science-based targeting for its emissions reduction programme. Pye says: “The real driver is not only our net zero targets.


We’ve got in existence the commitment to be net zero by 2040 but earlier, in January 2023, we submitted our SBTI [Science Based Targets initiative] for validation. We started that process for enhancing the credibility of our net zero programme, ensuring that we’re following the science-based approach that we’ve always mentioned and stated that we want to follow and get to that ratification that our targets are ambitious and align with the global benchmarks.” Urenco’s SBTi validation process commenced in January and is in progress, Pye added. Nonetheless, Urenco was pushing ahead with physical


measures to reduce emissions even before its strategy document had been finalised. “The work to identify where we can decarbonise within


scope one and some of the actions have actually been going on throughout this process,” says Pye. He continues: “One of the exciting aspects is our operating site in the Netherlands. They’re keenly investigating the potential for heat networking using the heat that’s generated through our process and the output of the enrichment process in terms of thermal heat. They’re investigating the potential to use that as a product for the local industrial cluster around


the Almelo site so the other users that need heat can use it and also it prevents us having a waste heat stream and making the use of energy more circular within the operation of the Almelo site.” As part of developing the proof of concept for such a


heat output stream, one of the buildings at the Almelo site has eliminated the need for natural gas, which had been used as part of a process to humidify the air stream for the building. “Now we’re looking to get partnerships with the local


businesses around Almelo to understand the demand that we have for this potential collaboration. It’s not high-grade heat at lower than 100 degrees normally but Urenco have already had interest from the local industries around Almelo which see it as useful to them for their processes,” adds Pye.


Tackling Scope 2 emissions Urenco also been advancing plans on Scope 2 reductions, for instance adding new solar capacity to its production sites. “From a scope two perspective, the Almelo solar installation is now complete and is generating electricity. We’ve now also completed the installation of solar car ports to complement the electricity consumption at Almelo”. Pye notes that while this latter installation was needed to shelter cars from the weather, it also has a very visual impact reinforcing company-wide engagement with employees and visitors. Pye continues: “We are progressing solar installations at all of the operating sites as one of our targets that is very much a complementary element to our Scope 2 decarbonisation. It is one that we’re pursuing where we can with different phases for different sites, planning processes are going through for the UK sites, and feasibility studies for the US sites and German sites as well.” The Almelo site now has an installed capacity that could


generate up to 2% of its total annual demand with a 15% peak demand ability. “We’re looking in the 3-4 MW capacity range for the


Dutch sites. The UK site, we have more potential there that can offer up to 50%, 60% of peak demand and potentially up to about 7% of annual consumption. The German site is somewhere in between the two. Again, we’re looking at feasibility, but more towards the Dutch end of capacity so it’ll be more like a 4% or 5% of total annual demand. The US has great potential. There’s a lot of land mass there and the solar irradiance is much better in New Mexico than it is in northern Europe. That is a bit more undefined. We’re looking at what is really feasible to do with the land we’ve got there as well.”


www.neimagazine.com | March 2024 | 19


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