Installation of ORC at Wern Tarw site

Rockwool own and operate an insulation production facility in Bridgend, South Wales. The site manufactures a range of our products by melting rock at very high temperatures to produce a flame retardant insulation material which is helping to insulate buildings and products around the world, directly reducing the carbon emissions of these buildings over their lifetime.

Our production process uses furnaces to melt the rock to enable it to be processed in to our insulation products. This is a very energy intensive process and so we are always looking for ways to improve it to reduce the inputs, increase efficiency and reduce any negative affect we have on the environment.

Recent research has shown that one of the furnace's cooling systems at the site is the single largest user of water on site. And whilst investigating ways to overcome this, by altering the design of the cooling system, Rockwool have found that the heated water used in the cooling system could also be used to generate electrical energy by passing it through an organic rankine cycle (ORC) system.

The benefits of installing this system will be:

* Generation of electricity from a waste product
* Carbon savings due to importing less electricity to the site
* Reduction in water use at the site
* Reduced visual impact to local residents

These systems have been installed in other industrial and manufacturing scenarios and are an excellent way to produce electrical energy from an otherwise waste by product.