Heineken Netherlands adds e-boiler to beer production process

To become less dependent on gas- and biogas-fired boilers, Heineken Netherlands – in partnership with Eneco – now uses an industrial-sized electrical boiler to produce steam for a part of its brewing and packing processes in Zoeterwoude. The e-boiler, which has a capacity of 12 MW, will gradually increase its steam production between now and 2029. Beyond that year, its annual production will stabilise at a projected 43,000 MWh of steam. The new e-boiler at Heineken Netherlands will help HEINEKEN to achieve its worldwide sustainability ambitions.

HEINEKEN has set out its worldwide sustainability ambitions in a programme that it calls Brew a Better World. One of the goals in that programme is that HEINEKEN should achieve net-zero at all its breweries around the world (Scopes 1 and 2) by 2030 and across its entire value chain (Scope 3) by 2040. In its role as energy partner, Eneco is helping Heineken Netherlands to realise these ambitions in the Netherlands, by electrifying Heineken’s thermal energy usage and using renewable sources as much as possible to supply that electricity. For example, eighty percent of the electricity used to power Heineken’s breweries in Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch already comes from renewable sources: part of it is produced by the breweries’ own on-site wind farms and solar panels, and part is procured from a wind farm in the Dutch province of Friesland.

Key steps forward in the energy transition
Over the past year, Heineken Netherlands and Eneco have worked hard to instal the e-boiler at the Zoeterwoude beer brewery - Europe’s largest – to electrify part of the thermal energy used in the processes. One third of the energy that Heineken Netherlands uses is electricity. The other two thirds is thermal energy. The reason to instal the e-boiler is so that the brewery will make less use of boilers that operate on gas or biogas. ‘The e-boiler basically looks like a gigantic version of an electric kettle that you might have at home,’ explains Director Tjeerd Meijer of the Heineken brewery in Zoeterwoude. ‘And that’s precisely what an e-boiler does: it heats up water until it evaporates and becomes steam. This is the first large e-boiler that we’ve added to our production process, and we’re very proud of it.’

Eneco Business Director Dick Velings adds, ‘To achieve its sustainability ambitions, HEINEKEN has chosen to make bold steps in energy management. They trust us to help them take a comprehensive look at the possibilities for electrification in the processes of the brewery business, and this creates opportunities to make changes like implementing an e-boiler. This approach marks a key step forward towards realising an affordable and sustainable energy system without disrupting the operating process. It’s a wonderful example of how Heineken Netherlands wants to accelerate the pace of industrial electrification.’  

The ambition for the e-boiler is to produce an annual output of 43,000 MWh of steam by 2029. Not only will this yield reductions in CO₂ and NOx, it will also help to stabilise the energy grid. Meijer continues, ‘This is a big step forward for Heineken Netherlands. We announce how much steam we need to produce, and Eneco handles procuring the electricity that this requires when the prices are favourable. This helps us to reduce our CO₂ emissions while also keeping the costs of the sustainability improvements affordable.’