Borealis and Bionerga announce the joint commissioning of Biostoom, a new waste-to-energy plant constructed and operated by Bionerga in Beringen, Belgium. The long-term agreement between Borealis and Bionerga, a Belgium-based specialist in recovering energy from waste, has enabled Borealis to move closer to its goal of sourcing 50% of its total electricity consumption from renewable sources for operations in its major business areas by the year 2030. The new Biostoom Beringen facility is allowing Borealis to reduce the amount of natural gas used in operations by supplying steam and electricity recovered from the processing of non-recyclable waste collected from nearby communities. The first electricity delivery took place in August, and the first steam was delivered in October 2020.
New biosteam power station reduces dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources
The newly-built Biostoom power station supplies steam and electricity generated from the non-hazardous, non-recyclable waste collected from local households in nearby Limburg. By reducing its dependency on fossil fuel-based sources of energy, Borealis is lowering its direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions (defined as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) by 20% at its Beringen operations. The state-of-the-art facility generates steam and electricity exclusively for Borealis operations on site. The facility will supply nearly 100% of the electricity consumed by Borealis Beringen operations, of which 47% is considered renewable. The intake of natural gas will be reduced by around 40%.