Ambition 2025: Centrica Business Solutions helps Europe’s largest bakery plants save £400K per year

Producing more than two million products every day, this UK bakery places great emphasis on sustainability. So, when it started making plans to open one of Europe’s largest plants, it wanted to ensure the bakery operated in the most energy efficient manner possible.

The bakery worked with Centrica Business Solutions to install a 1MWe Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit from its latest range of the most electrically efficient units. Through this installation, electricity is produced at low-voltage, then increased to a high-voltage for connection to the site’s 11KV ring main.

Exhaust gases from the engine are used to generate the site’s base steam load requirements, and hot water is recovered from the engine, stored and then re-used by other equipment on site.

Centrica Business Solutions also provides a ten-year maintenance contract to ensure the CHP unit continues to run efficiently.

The CHP is helping the new plant to save 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Energy costs will be reduced by approximately £400,000 per year, allowing the company to pay for the warranty-backed unit in around three years.

Centrica Business Solutions is now working with the company on several projects across its portfolio of bakeries, enabling it to be at the forefront of environmental leadership within the food industry.

“We were impressed by the technical innovation Centrica Business Solutions showed. They gave us complete peace of mind, carrying out detailed site evaluations and managing a full installation. We now have plans to work on similar projects at four other sites,” explains the bakery’s Sustainability Manager.

See how Centrica Business Solutions' Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems can help you manage cost and carbon reduction in your business. Find out more here: https://www.centricabusinesssolutions.com/energy-solutions/products/combined-heat-and-power