Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg visited the ROCKWOOL stone wool manufacturing facility in Moss earlier today to learn more about the company’s new large-scale electric stone melting technology project that is benefiting from Norwegian government support.
Enova, a public company owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, is providing NOK 101.5 million of the total NOK 340 million investment for the pilot project, which is designed to demonstrate and verify the emissions and waste reduction potential from this new generation of electric melting technology.
In addition to emitting approximately 80 percent less CO2 than the conventional coke burning furnace it will replace, the new electric melter will be able to use an even greater amount of waste material, thus reducing waste going to landfill from production by 90 to 95 percent.
In what will become the largest electric melting furnace in the Group, the Moss pilot project is expected to provide valuable learnings and experience as ROCKWOOL continues working to reduce its environmental footprint.
ROCKWOOL Senior Vice President Mirella Vitale notes, “We are continuously working to decarbonize our production process – through greater energy efficiency measures as well as using less carbon-intensive melting processes where feasible. For electric melting to make sense environmentally, it requires the electricity to be produced by low-carbon sources. Because Norway’s electricity grid is dominated by hydro-power, it makes sense to install this new generation melting technology at our factory in Moss.”
Regarding its support for the ROCKWOOL project, Enova notes that it “has not seen enough of the truly ground-breaking, necessary initiatives that can take the industry into a low-emission society, but one of those is ROCKWOOL, which wants to make its mineral wool factory in Moss a global example.”
During the visit, Prime Minister Erna Solberg commented that “ROCKWOOL is pursuing this pilot project in Norway because the country creates the right incentives to invest, which accelerates the green transition.”
As the new technology represents a significant change in the production process, employees will receive extensive training and education, which will take place during the conversion process to the new melting furnace.
In comments to the Prime Minister, ROCKWOOL-Norway Business Director Morten Bjørn Andersen said, “We appreciate the support and extremely close collaboration with Enova, which is making this large-scale innovation project possible. We expect the Moss project to generate valuable learnings that we’ll be able to deploy more broadly over time.”
Total investment:
- NOK 340 million, of which NOK 101.5 million comes from Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment
- The NOK 101.5 million in support is Enova’s largest funding commitment in 2018
- Learn more about Enova here: https://www.enova.no/about-enova/
Some of the benefits
Expected CO2 emission reduction: 80 percent
Expected production waste to landfill reduction: 90-95 percent
Expected start of production: Autumn 2020
Employee benefits: Additional training and education in the new technology
Additional highlights:
- Will be first of a new generation of electric melting technology in ROCKWOOL Group
- ROCKWOOL employs 130 people at its facility in Moss, Norway
- ROCKWOOL has had production in Moss, Norway since 1948
