Temmler switches from Oil to Biomass
Key Achievements
Switched to renewable heating system
Significant reduction in maintenance has been achieved
Costs reduced significantly
With production output the same in 2012 and 2019, energy costs reduced by 48%
Introduction
Temmler is a contract manufacturer of a wide range of pharmaceutical products and active pharmaceutical ingredients and was established in Killorglin, Co Kerry in 1972. It has 65 employees with a further 15 long term contractors. Temmler is part of the Aenova Group, having joined the group in 2012. Temmler is a member of SEAI's Large Energy Industry Network (LIEN). Members of LIEN are supported by SEAI and work together to improve their energy performance and inspire others to follow.
Energy efficiency has always been a high priority for the organisation. They have an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Licence (IPPCL) from the EPA and an Environmental Management System certified to ISO140001. Encapsulation of pharmaceutical pellets is also completed on their Killorglin site.
Condition 7 of the IPPCL requires all practical opportunities for energy use reduction and efficiency to be identified and incorporated into the Schedule of Environmental Objectives and Targets for the organisation.
Temmler are part of SEAI's Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN).
LIEN members are companies with an annual energy spend of €1 million or more. SEAI work with these companies to improve their energy performance.
About the project
Up to 2012 Temmler relied on three oil boilers, which were fuelled by 200 second oil (Black Oil). The organisations were actively investigating renewable energy sources, including wood chip and wood pellets options. The wood chip proposals were costly and didn't fit the financial appraisal model of Aenova Group.
However, under an ESCO agreement with Gleneden Trading Ltd, they agreed to install a new Biomass Steam Boiler and wood pellet storage system. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) granted a technical amendment to the IPPCL to allow this.
The huge benefit from the project was that we effectively halved our thermal energy cost as a result.
Results
The project was a great success and allowed Temmler to transition from oil to biomass and meet its decarbonisation goals. The payback period was just under one year. Thermal energy cost reduced by half.