Suikerpark Veurne: where the residual heat from a potato chips oven keeps the neighborhood warm
06/09/2021
New life
Sixteen years after the closure of its sugar factory, Stad Veurne, WVI, and ION are joining forces to revive the site. Thanks to European and Flemish subsidies and the collaboration with Fluvius and Noven, they built a heat distribution grid to ensure that the housing units will not require their own individual heating systems. The waste heat from the PepsiCo plant will be recovered and distributed through an underground piping network.
Climate-neutral by 2050
This is a tremendous move in the right direction because Europe wants all member states to be climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve that objective, we will need to make maximum use of renewable heat. This heat distribution grid can be an example for many future projects because the neighborhood’s heating will be entirely carbon-neutral, and the plant’s carbon emissions will be drastically reduced once the heat distribution grid link is operational.
Towards a sustainable future
Suikerpark is only the beginning because the objective is to use the heat distribution grid to heat several neighborhoods in Veurne. And that’s not all. Solar panels on the Suikertoren will provide renewable energy, and the water from the bathrooms will also be treated and reused. This means that res- idents will never need to worry about maintaining gas boilers, and they will also be getting affordable and fair green energy right at the same time.
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